


Demonic Influence (I hate my co-workers)

by Random_Inked_Thoughts



Category: Twosetviolin
Genre: A Little Bit Of Crack, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, M/M, Slow Burn, Wingfic, angel!brett, apparently this is a wingfic now, demon!eddy, ft. Fred, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-01-04 03:31:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 30,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21190853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random_Inked_Thoughts/pseuds/Random_Inked_Thoughts
Summary: Eddy was a minor demon, having only been around for two hundred years or so. Contrary to popular opinion, he wasn't super angry with heaven, nor did he have a lot of pent up anger to get out. He was just one of the unlucky schmucks to get the short end of the stick- depression. Oh, and that whole ambiguous sexuality thing.My take on angels and demons, and everything in between. Brett is in trouble, heaven and hell don't exactly get along, and Eddy just wants to have a good time and practice his violin.You can never be too sure, so if you're featured in this fun work I don't mean any offense by writing this, please just don't look at it.





	1. The Moon Shines Bright (but so do your eyes)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! So I figured I would mix it up today and write a little something for the twoset fandom today, seeing as I've been binging their videos like crazy recently and this site doesn't have nearly enough works on it with the two of them. So, here it is! It's going to be multiple chapters (obviously) and if people like it, I'll see how long I can go with it. Hope you all enjoy! :D
> 
> Obligatory disclaimer: Please don't hate me for shipping real people, etc. It's all just for fun cause I think they have a cute dynamic and I'm not trying to pry into their personal lives or anything. If you feel uncomfortable please don't read this work, whether it be the ship or the religious commentary. Thanks! :)
> 
> Inspired by nonsenseverses "Holy".

Whenever Eddy was feeling down, he liked to think of the golden rule, and check that his actions were following those guidelines. 

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Eddy was currently ripping the still beating heart from a sinner’s chest, and shredding it to pieces with his claws. His eyes glinted red in the moonlight as he made direct eye contact with the man in front of him, the man who now sank to his knees with a small  _ thunk, _ and watched the rest of his life fade from those same eyes. 

Eddy was a minor demon, having only been around for two hundred years or so. Contrary to popular opinion, he wasn’t super angry with heaven, nor did he have a lot of pent up anger to get out. He was just one of the unlucky schmucks to get the short end of the stick- depression. Oh, and the whole ambiguous sexuality thing. 

Honestly, it wasn’t like anyone in hell really cared about that anyway, they were all equally depressed and sexually ambiguous. Honestly, Eddy didn’t really think much of his job or coworkers at all, all the demons really did was try to go around and eliminate sinners, same as heaven did, none of that wacky “corruption” shit. They just did it on a much smaller level than heaven, and had separate methods. 

Eddy had lived on Earth for at least sixty of his two hundred demonic years, yet he had never encountered an angel. He supposed that was rather for the best, seeing as angels were scary, each more dedicated than the last to their work and all equally perfectionistic. They hated the idea that anyone might even look at them with disdain, and would go so far as to dismember demons and leave them to bleed out if they got in their way. There were fewer angels than there would ever be demons, which was no surprise. To become an angel you had to have lived a picturesque life, something straight out of a Hallmark movie. As a result, they were all brown nosing snobs. 

Wow, what a great group of people to give divine power to and send forth to watch over the rest of humanity. 

Unlike when demons encountered a sinner, angels treated death as a courtesy. And it just so happened that they chose to ignore that courtesy entirely. No angel had ever killed a human, no angel that lived through the week at least. To kill a human was to lose your status as an angel. The also didn’t blend in well with humans, a stark contrast from the demonic community. 

Eddy would honestly rather play his violin than kill people any day. He also frequented bars, and generally enjoyed watching Youtube in his spare time. Once, as an experiment, he went on strike, just to see what would happen. No one cared, except Fred, the demon in charge of his particular division, who sent him a very nicely worded letter by raven requesting that he kill at least one or two sinners a week, just to keep up the image of hell (and also so Fred could win his current bet, that his division would kill the most sinners that month, with Suzie). Eddy hated Suzie, so he reluctantly agreed that he would continue doing his job and penned Fred a lengthy apology. 

Eddy had an extremely good sense of self preservation as well, seeing as he had very little power, even compared to other demons. He generally kept his head down, didn’t form any meaningful relationships with other demons and co-workers, and lived out his afterlife almost invisibly. 

This unfortunately changed sooner than he had hoped for it to. Eddy had left the man’s corpse in the alley, as per usual, and was just walking home when he felt it, a tingling that seemed to travel through his very being. As though steered by a lead, Eddy followed that feeling through the center of the street, down the sidewalk for about two hundred paces, and then left into a dimly lit alley. That was where he heard it, someone being assaulted. 

Eddy cocked his head as he listened. Or maybe they were just being mugged at gunpoint? Whatever. It never hurt to work a little overtime, that always made people pleasantly surprised, seeing as there was no real work ethic in hell to begin with. Most of them were fueled on pure spite alone. 

“Put your hands in the air and back against the wall!”

As he approached, his eyes began to glow red in advance, nothing more than a cheap party trick that always seemed to scare the living daylights out of people. However, he paused where he stood as he heard the second voice speak. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”   


The man who appeared to be doing the mugging snorted out a small laugh. “I said, put them up, or I’ll put this bullet through your head. That’s an order!”

“I don’t take orders from you.” The second voice was completely monotone. “Please just leave me alone.”

Eddy frowned. Usually, when a human was being mugged, they screamed, or cried, or even attempted to fight back. This man stood completely still, however, and in the dim light of the alleyway, Eddy could barely see the almost bored expression adorning his face. He was slightly shorter than the average male, and wore glasses. Nothing about him was remotely intimidating.

It appeared his attacker agreed. The stocky man grinned, advancing on the small man and backing him against the wall easily. 

“I’m warning you, don’t touch me!” The shorter man spoke, slightly louder than before, a bit of panic touching at the edges of his statement. The boredom seemed to fade from his face. His attacker just raised the gun a little higher, cocking it. 

Eddy made to move forward, to shove the man out of the way, when there was a sudden rush of air, and the tall man flew back from his victim, the back of his head smashing into the brick wall behind him with a sickening  _ crack.  _ He slid down the wall in almost slow motion, hitting the floor and laying there, a slow trickle of blood oozing out from under him, his eyes wide open and glassy in the moonlight. The gun lay beside him, unfired. 

His victim let out a small gasp and ran to his side, all but flinging himself on the ground next to him and cursing. “Shit, shit, shit- oh fuck!” 

Eddy was gaping. He closed his jaw very carefully, swallowing once. 

“How did you do that?” His whisper seemed almost too loud, and perhaps it was. The man stiffened, whirling around to face him with the guiltiest look Eddy had ever seen adorning his face. 


	2. That Chapter Where They Actually Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone! I know it's crazy, another chapter so soon, but I was just so excited to get another one up, especially after such a sweet and inspiring comment from lydiaraquel. Thank you so much, you made my day!
> 
> In other news, I still suck at titles lol.

Eddy gave him a lopsided grin, slightly unsure of what was going on. He did feel a strange sense of nervousness, looking at the man in front of him. However, as his eyes continued to sweep up and down the man, taking in his disheveled, wind tossed hair and the panicked expression adorning his face, Eddy felt an even more out of place sense of peace sweep over him, trumping his nervousness. 

The man couldn’t have been more than twenty something, and he was practically swimming in the t-shirt he wore, more than covering his skinny frame. His skin was clearer than Eddy’s future, and if left to his own devices, Eddy could swim forever in his rich brown eyes.

“Demon.” The word wasn’t a question, and the man hissed it out through his front teeth, almost scowling at him. His tone was defensive. Eddy frowned. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t want to disappoint this man.  _ What is he? _

“Hi, I was just checking in, but you seem like you’re really doing okay here, and I guess you don’t need me to kill anyone for you,” Eddy said awkwardly, remembering that his eyes still burned a brilliant red in the darkly lit alley. “My name’s Eddy,” he tried. 

“Shit.” The man whirled around, looking at the body on the ground behind him and then back at Eddy. His eyes narrowed as he assessed the situation, though his tone seemed more panicked than anything else. “This can’t be happening. You can’t be here.” He put his head in his hands in despair. “Oh, they’re going to kill me, they’re going to strip me of my status and kill me oh my gosh-”

That was when it seemed to click for Eddy. It was all adding up, the impossible strength, the uncaring expression while he was being mugged, even the immediate knowledge of who and what Eddy was. 

His eyes widened as the angel in front of him took a fighting stance, sinking into it and facing Eddy. “I can’t let you leave, I’m sorry,” he said, and Eddy could almost sense remorse in his words. 

“Hey now,” he responded, fully aware he wasn’t strong enough to go toe to toe with an angel any day, “Can’t we just talk this out?” 

The angel shook his head in quick, jerky motions. “No, no, no, that won’t work.” He started muttering to himself even as Eddy mirrored his stance, somewhat reluctantly. “I could kill him too, no Brett, you’re already in enough trouble as is, they’ll come looking for him. Is that a bad thing? You don’t have to be here when they come… But still, they’ll know. They always know. You could take them in a fight, probably. Too risky…” Finally Brett sighed, looking up to Eddy and wincing. “I really am sorry.”

Brett held his hand up, nothing more than that, and Eddy felt his vision begin to blur. He stumbled to the right, feet crossing awkwardly as he struggled to hold himself up against the brick wall. “W-what did you do to me?” He managed to get out, feeling the brick bite into his palms. He was feeling more lightheaded the longer he leaned into the wall, and he began to feel numbness in his feet. 

The last thing that Eddy could remember before he passed out was Brett’s face, an odd mix of terror and sorrow, looking down at him. 

Eddy awoke to bright lights and the smell of vanilla. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear the ringing from his ears, he began to assess his situation. So he wasn’t dead… yet. He appeared to be in someone’s basement, judging by the fact that the room lacked windows and the only exit he could spot would be the stairs against the wall in front of him. 

It was a peculiar red color, with a teal futon off to one side and an old fashioned tv in the corner. Eddy could feel the fuzz of the carpet beneath his toes.  _ When did I take my shoes off?  _ His clunky black boots sat by the staircase, next to a small shelf. There were books all over the shelf, and Eddy was just taking a second to examine the titles, oddly calm, when he heard it. The door upstairs slammed shut.

Hearing this, Eddy jumped, nervous. Or at least, he tried to. Immediately he was met with a burning sensation in his wrists, and he hissed out a couple choice profanities. Looking down, he could see that he appeared to be tied to the chair he sat in, the cuffs digging into his wrists. The footsteps were now making their way down the stairs, and Eddy looked up, making eye contact with the angel from earlier, just now reaching the bottom of the staircase.  _ This can’t be good.  _ Eddy could feel his heartbeat quicken.

Opening his mouth to say something seemed like a good idea. It didn’t look like the angel was going to. His jaw hung open for only a moment before Eddy spouted out the first thing he could think to ask. “Am I in your basement?”

Brett blinked once. “Uh…” 

“I mean, it’s a nice basement,” Eddy continued now, wincing slightly. “Nothing wrong with it, and I love the vanilla scent, but I just can’t seem to imagine an angel owning a house. Like, did you pay it off? Do you rent from someone?” 

“You’re not mad about the whole kidnapping thing?” Brett asked him, tone even and face blank.

“Oh no, I’m furious,” Eddy responded, giving Brett a small, equally awkward grin.  _ What am I doing?  _ “If not for these restraints, I would tear you limb from limb.” 

Brett snorted at that, sitting across from Eddy. “Don’t kid yourself, demon. You’re nowhere near strong enough to take down an angel.” 

_ Shit, he’s got that part right.  _ Eddy bit his lip. “I may not be, but I’m pretty sure the higher ups on your end would be strong enough.” 

Brett’s face went from composed to concerned in less than a second.  _ Gotcha,  _ Eddy thought, and then,  _ where did my sense of self preservation go? I’m threatening an angel.  _

“You know, I don’t just make a habit of kidnapping demons,” Brett informed him, a slight edge to his voice now.

He didn’t quite know what to say to that. “Aww, so I’m your first?” Eddy teased, taking an unreasonable amount of pride in the slight flush that had started to tinge the angel’s cheeks. “I’m honored.”  _ When will my sense of self preservation return from the war? _

Brett just grumbled something under his breath.

“What was that?” Eddy asked, voice almost comically innocent. 

“I said if you don’t shut your mouth I’ll shut it for you,” Brett said, louder. 

Eddy shut his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments give me life if you would be so lovely as to spare a moment. More should be coming soon, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D


	3. Feigning Indifference 101

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm enjoying these chapter titles wayyy too much, ngl. Enjoy a rare peek into Brett's character's perspective.

_Oh no, shit, oh gosh... _Brett was pacing his halls as he replayed the conversation in his head. _What made you think it would be a good idea for you to go down and talk to him in the first place, Brett? _He winced as he went through the events once more. _It’s bad enough that you kidnapped him, now you had to go and make it worse by attempting conversation as well? He knows your name, what you’ve done, what your basement looks like… _  
  
Brett’s stomach twisted as he thought back to the alley. _Stupid, stupid. You should have been more careful. You knew that man couldn’t have done anything to you, he was just a stupid human…_

You see, where Eddy was young for a demon with only two hundred years under his belt, Brett was quite young for an angel as well, only clocking in at about four hundred years. Most people didn’t lead perfect lives anymore, and Brett had never met anyone less experienced than he was. The older angels would rather snicker at his awkward fumbling around then help him, so he was actually still adjusting to his near-superhuman strength and wings when his manager sent him a notice that he had been assigned to Earth, to watch over a certain crime-ridden area and to convert as many sinners as possible back to the light.

In hindsight, it really wasn’t a surprise that something like this had happened. They sent their most incompetent angel into the midst of hundreds of beings and expected him not to make a single tiny mistake. For some reason, this thought didn’t comfort Brett in the slightest.

_Oh, they’re going to kill me, they’re going to strip me of my wings and kill me on the spot the minute they find out, what do I do? _Kidnapping Eddy hadn’t been a bright idea, it just happened to be the first one that popped into his head. Brett could feel his stomach twist as he thought of the tall, lanky demon he had currently tied up in his basement.

Angels had been told that demons were less than human, not worth their time, only their disdain, and Brett had believed them until now. Why wouldn’t he? Up until last night, he had never seen a demon before.

This obviously didn’t make him feel any better about knocking the demon out and tying him up like a dog, even if it was for his own self preservation. He just didn’t know the demon, and it was far too risky to even attempt letting him walk free with Brett’s secret on the tip of his tongue. If anything he had been taught about demons was true, it would waste no time finding someone in charge and ruining everything Brett had become.

But still… Brett thought back to his conversation with the demon. _I thought demons were supposed to be afraid of us. Maybe he’s hiding something?_

He had walked down the stairs hesitantly, seeing as he assumed the demon would not yet have awoken. Much to his surprise, the boy was awake and blinking the last traces of sleep from his eyes. _No, not a boy. He’s a demon, _Brett reminded himself.

He didn’t know what to say as he stared expressionlessly at the demon in his basement. For what it was worth, the demon actually looked quite unfazed by everything. If he didn’t know better, Brett would almost feel intimidated. (He was already slightly miffed that the demon was taller than him.)

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, the demon spoke. “Am I in your basement?”

Brett really didn’t know how to respond to that. Should he tell him? It’s not like it would make this any less odd if he didn’t, but still, _no, I knocked you out and left you in someone else’s basement _seemed a bit improbable.

“I mean… it’s a nice basement,” the demon continued, pushing the words out awkwardly to fill the silence that followed his question. Brett tuned him out as he kept talking, his low voice becoming nothing more than soothing white noise. _Where do I even go from here? Do I kill him? That just seems wrong. But I don’t see any other options…_

“So. You’re not mad about the kidnapping thing.” Brett finally spoke, thoughtful. He did his best to keep his face blank, so as not to reveal anything more than he had to. _Anything can be used against you later, you can never be too careful._

“Oh no, I’m furious,” the demon replied almost instantaneously, following that statement with a threat. Brett had to stifle a laugh at the audacity of that, a demon threatening an angel. Not to mention, said demon was currently tied to one of his dining room chairs.

“Don’t kid yourself,” Brett all but snorted at that. “You’re nowhere near strong enough to take down an angel.”

“True enough,” Eddy, the demon, leaned forward, eyes glinting red for only a second. “But I’m pretty sure the higher ups on your end are.”

_Crap. Time to shine, resting bitch face. Let’s put you to use. _Brett didn’t break eye contact. _Don’t let him know how nervous that statement makes you._

“You know,” he responded instead, changing tactics, a slight edge to his voice, “I don’t just make a habit of kidnapping demons.” _Maybe he’ll shut up if I intimidate him- oh who am I kidding, I couldn’t intimidate a mouse, let alone this bean pole of a demon. _Brett was more than a little focused on Eddy’s height.

It took Eddy an uncomfortably short period of time to respond, a playful glint starting to shine in his eyes. “Aww, so what you’re telling me is that I’m your first?” he snapped back.

It was all Brett could do not to squeak in response. He could feel a soft blush starting to travel across his cheeks and down his throat as well. _Great. _“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he grumbled quietly.

Eddy’s tone turned innocent. “What was that?”

_Shit. _“I said if you don’t shut your mouth, I’ll shut it for you.”

Brett had put his face in his hands the moment he made it back up those same stairs, allowing himself a moment more to cool off before straightening his shirt out and heading out the front door. He needed to cool off.

Walking was always very calming for Brett, second only to playing his violin. It just had something to do with being surrounded by nature, the birds, the wind, even feeling the rocks under his feet. Usually, Brett walked with no shoes, but today he just happened to be wearing sandals.

The calming effects of his walk were, unfortunately, lost on him as he turned the first corner. He heard a small _pop _behind him, which seemed slightly peculiar. However, this didn't even begin to prepare him for the chills he felt travel down his spine when he heard the voice. 

“Hello, Brett.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you all go I would love to just thank you all so much!! If you clicked on this, if you kudosed it, and especially if you were one of the lovelies that were sweet enough to leave me a comment! You all just made my day, and I am overwhelmed by the support you all are giving me. Seriously, y'all rock. <3


	4. Vanilla Candles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no what are these unreasonable expectations? One chapter a day? Oh no.

Whirling around, Brett was met with the blank eyed stare of Gabriel. Almost immediately, he straightened up, fixing his slightly rumpled attire and standing at attention. He did his best not to gulp too noticeably. “Gabriel,” he responded, voice only shaking a little. 

Meanwhile, Eddy was doing his best to wriggle free from the ropes trying his wrists to the chair. Being a demon, he actually had quite a lot of experience with wiggling. He would never tell you what kind, but it involved a couple of very awkward games of charades. Fred was there. They still didn’t guess the answer. Eddy may or may not have cried. 

He had been struggling with the wiggles for almost two hours now, concerned about numerous parts of this situation. His first concern had something to do with the fact that he hadn’t been killed yet. Now, usually this wouldn’t be an issue for him, but it just seemed wildly improbable. Okay, maybe concerned wasn’t the right word. Confused was much more accurate. Why hadn’t he been murdered in cold blood by this point? Eddy felt the ropes start to give slightly as he tried to work his hand through them. It was a tight fit, but he would have to pull his hand through if he was going to get out of them.  _ I hope I don’t have to dislocate my thumb.  _

His second concern had to do with Brett himself. He had heard the angel storm out of the house earlier, and he was ninety percent sure that he had yet to return. Again, Eddy wasn’t complaining about this either. It just gave him more time to escape. Well, it would, if he wasn’t so picky about dislocating his thumb.  _ Come on dude, it’s not like it’s going to have any long term effects.  _

His third and final concern was, ironically, the most pressing of the three, in his opinion. Every couple of minutes, Eddy could feel his nose begin to tingle, and he let out a small sneezes periodically. He couldn’t be completely sure what was causing this, but he suspected it had something to do with the vanilla candle in the corner. This was disappointing, seeing as Eddy liked the scent of vanilla. Maybe if he asked Brett nicely he would get rid of it. 

Just as he felt another sneeze start to come on, Eddy could hear the door slam again. This would not be an issue, if not for two things. The first thing was that he was tugging fairly hard backwards, still trying to slide through the ropes without dislocating his thumb. The second thing was that he was not expecting the loud noise. Now, some people are lucky enough in the fact that they’re able to keep their composure when scared. Eddy, however, is not one of those lucky people. He let out a small squeak, jumping as far back as the ropes would allow him to, and them let out a larger squeak as the chair began to very slowly tip backward. 

Eddy went down with a crash to rival that of Brett’s front door, choosing a couple more choice profanities to express his feelings on the situation. Immediately, there were footsteps on the stairs. Oh, great, Brett was running down the stairs. 

Eddy looked up, around the chair, locking eyes with him once more. Brett looked almost as frazzled as he felt. 

“What are you doing?” The angel’s tone was incredulous as he stared at Eddy, still lying on the floor. He ran his fingers through his short, coarse hair. 

“Um… I’m escaping.” Eddy gave him a tentative grin. 

Brett didn’t seem like he knew what to say to that. His brow furrowed for a moment, and the ghost of a smile crossed his face for only a moment. Then, he crossed his arms, still looking down at Eddy. “You can’t do that.” 

“Sorry.” 

Brett just let out a tiny giggle at that. It didn’t seem to be aimed at anything in particular, and seemed more relieved than anything else. Very slowly, he walked to Eddy’s side, looking down even further to maintain eye contact. His eyes were so piercing… 

“Enjoying looking down at me for once?” Eddy asked, without a second thought. 

Brett didn’t even try to resist rolling his eyes as he propped Eddy back up, nodding at his muttered thanks. “You should have just dislocated your wrist,” he informed him. 

“I wanted to do that, but I was worried about long term damage,” Eddy muttered, a little bit of a flush covering his cheeks.  _ You know it’s bad when your captor is advising you how you could have better escaped.  _

“You weren’t worried about long term damage if you stayed here, with me?” Brett inquired. 

  
Eddy legitimately thought about that for a moment, before finally shaking his head. “No, honestly. No offense, but you don’t really seem to know what you’re doing.”

Brett was just about to take offense to that when he remembered what Eddy was talking about. “Fair enough.” 

It was Eddy’s turn to giggle. “Honestly, I was told that all angels were heartless, stone faced monsters who would hunt us down with no remorse, but if I’m being honest, this is the most pleasant kidnapping I’ve ever been a part of.” 

Brett rewarded him with a small smile, and Eddy felt his heart flutter. “Well I was told that all demons were equally heartless, sinning, killing machines,” the angel fired back.

“I guess we both have a lot to consider, then,” Eddy said. 

Brett looked almost stunned as he considered that. “Yeah,” he responded, much more timid than before, and suddenly quite pensive. He started to turn away.  _ Oh, so I guess this conversation is over then,  _ Eddy thought. 

The last thing he was expecting was for Brett to turn back to face him. Eddy cocked his head and waited for the angel to speak. When he finally did, his tone was far more demure. “Is… is there anything I can get you to make you more comfortable?” 

Eddy sniffled slightly. “Yeah actually, if you don’t mind, could you please take that vanilla candle elsewhere? I think I’m having a slight allergic reaction to it.” 

Brett looked quite surprised. “Of course.” He moved almost robotically, blowing out the candle and grabbing it from the tableside. Eddy couldn’t be sure, but he was pretty sure he heard Brett fondly mutter  _ allergic to vanilla, comical,  _ under his breath. 

As Brett turned to leave a second time, still quite deep in thought, Eddy spoke out one last time. “I did like the smell though, if you have another you’d rather keep down here, I wouldn’t be opposed. It’s actually quite soothing.” 

Brett, halfway up the stairs, stopped, nodded, and finished walking up the stairs. As soon as he was out of sight, Eddy let out a huge breath he didn’t even realize that he was holding to begin with. He let his head thunk back against the backboard of the chair, closing his eyes. He was tired. 

Another sound began to ring through the house, this time with pitch and a melody. It was… actually quite soothing. Eddy didn’t know quite where the pretty violin music was coming from exactly, but that didn’t make his eyelids droop any less. He would only sleep for a moment. It was important to conserve his energy anyway, this was a tactical decision.

When he next awoke, a cinnamon candle burned bright in the corner. Eddy smiled sleepily at it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope Brett's little chat with Gabriel went okay.


	5. Best Wishes

_ Dear Fred,  _

_ I regret to inform you that I will be unable to work for quite some time, due to the violent shivers that currently rack my body during my every waking moment. It is with this overwhelming sense of regret that I inform you that I will also remain housebound during this time, a choice I definitely made for myself.  _

_ I’m not quite sure as to when exactly this illness overtook me, however it worked quite swiftly, leaving me bedridden in only days. I would warn others against it if I knew what it was.  _

_ I hope that Annie’s baby shower goes well, tell her not to be nervous, if you can. She’s been waiting for this for a while, and I know how much it means to her. It’ll go great, I’m sure of it. _

“I didn’t know that demons could procreate,” Brett spoke up, from his spot looming over Eddy’s shoulder. 

“Oh, we can’t,” Eddy responded, offhand. 

“But then… what’s a-?”   
  


Eddy looked him dead in the eyes. “It’s exactly what it sounds like. Baby. Shower.” 

_ I will also most likely not be able to kill anyone during this trying time as I struggle to regain control of my spasming body, regretfully, so please tell Colin to cover my load for the time being. If he gets pissy about it, just let him know that I remember everything he told me about Karen, and see if he still doesn’t want to help me out.  _

_ Best wishes,  _

_ Eddy  _

“That should satisfy them.” 

“They seriously let you just take time off like that? With no explanation whatsoever?” Brett asked, watching as the demon rolled the parchment up and tied it with a bow. 

“Well, it’s not like anyone can just go missing, they’ll check in on us if we don’t show up at family bingo night or whatever,” Eddy said. “But for the most part, my bosses are pretty chill. Besides, I did explain! I wrote it down right there.” 

“Wow,” Brett said, face passive. Eddy had come to recognize this blank faced stare as Brett’s ‘thinking’ face. Or maybe it was his ‘angry’ face. Or maybe it was his ‘compassionate but currently being stuck up about it’ face. Or maybe Eddy didn’t really know what emotion Brett was conveying. Either way, he was mostly positive it was one of those three emotions.

“How about your bosses, how are they?” He wondered aloud, cracking and popping his knuckles absentmindedly. It was nice of Brett to let him write a letter, no matter how little it actually mattered in the grand scheme of things. He handed the rolled up parchment to Brett, who took it and set it aside. 

“They’re…” Brett paused, a sour expression crossing his face. “It’s impartial that they oversee every moment of our work that they can. They like to micromanage. If we’re doing the job right, we can still be doing it better. There’s always room for improvement.” He said the last few words bitterly. “And they get... antsy if we don’t report in for a while.” 

Eddy frowned at that. “Well that sucks. I know it sounds crazy, but I’d much rather be a demon than an angel any day.” 

Brett pursed his lips. “Me too,” he muttered under his breath. Then, he gave Eddy a slightly guilty look. “Alright, back in the chair.” 

Eddy pouted phantom aching beginning in his wrists already. “So soon? We’re having such a fun conversation…”

“And we can have that same conversation, just with you tied up in the chair,” Brett nodded along with him. “You understand.”

“No, not really. Not much of this makes sense,” Eddy shook his head, shrugging. 

Brett just smothered a small smile. “You are so calm about this… but you know I can’t let you go, you might tell someone about…” he trailed off, biting his lip. 

Eddy cracked a grin. “Oh yeah, that dude in the alley. Almost forgot about him.” He stood up, pushing the chair in behind him and allowing Brett to guide him by one wrist back across the room. The angel’s touch was feather-light, yet strong as iron. Eddy wasn’t quite sure how that was possible, but he wasn’t about to question it.

It happened two or three steps from the chair. Brett loosened his grip for a moment, probably so that he could turn around and let Eddy sit down, and Eddy took the moment to yank his wrist back as quickly as possible, shoving Brett almost to the ground as he stumbled back, scrambling for the stairs.

He made it maybe three feet, and that’s being generous about it. Quick as lightning, a hand shot out and grabbed his ankle, and Eddy felt his heart fly to his throat as he tripped headfirst over nothing, arms coming out to catch his fall as he did so. He just barely stopped his nose from cracking headfirst into the nice, carpeted floor of Brett’s aesthetically pleasing, 80’s themed basement.

There was another scramble, and suddenly there was a large weight on his back. Eddy groaned, letting his forehead thunk against the floor. “So close…”

Brett looked down at him from where he perched, grinning despite the situation. “No, not really. You need to stop doing this.”

Eddy sighed dramatically. “I just want to see the outdoors again, can’t I please just see sunlight? I miss it, and the birds, and the fresh air. Everything smells of cinnamon down here, and the only breeze I get comes from that rickety old fan on the desk,” Eddy nodded in the direction of the fan, which must have been at least twelve years old. He thought he was making a pretty fair point, at least where the fan was concerned. It was ancient, and the blades clicked when you turned the speed up.

“That’s bullshit,”. Brett said, now giggling slightly. Eddy took an experimental breath, feeling his breathing become only slightly more labored under the angel’s weight. “I know for a fact that demons hate nothing more than birds and fresh air and sun. You can’t fool me!” 

Eddy rolled his eyes affectionately. “Fine, you may have outsmarted me this time, angel, but I’ll get you. Just you wait.” 

“Oh,” Brett said, draping himself over Eddy for a moment to bop him on the nose, oblivious to the strangled noise that came out of the demon below him as he did so, the poor boy hissing like a cat. “I plan on it.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what i'm doing anymore. Is this funny? Who knows, not me, that's for sure lol


	6. Go Fish

_ “Got any sixes?”  _

_ “Go fish.”  _

_ Eddy threw down his cards with a dissuaded noise. “This is stupid, I hate this game!”  _

_ Brett looked up at him. “Well, do you have something that you can propose for us to do instead, as opposed to just whining about it like a big baby?”  _

This was how Brett had ended up cross legged on the floor, still looking up at Eddy. He wasn’t really quite sure when Eddy had stopped becoming ‘the demon’ in his mind, but over these past few days, he had felt himself enjoying himself more and more, spending a fair portion of time with Eddy that he couldn’t simply brush off as making sure that the demon in his basement didn’t die on him. 

_ This must be the stupidest case of Stockholm syndrome ever recorded.  _ But it was true, Brett had more or less fallen for Eddy these past few days. Now, that might seem ridiculous by human standards, but by angel standards... it was just so much worse. A day passed in a blink for them, and this stupid pining was borderline insane for his kind, only worstened by the fact that the object of his affection was a  _ demon,  _ of all things. Gosh, he really was an idiot. 

The best explanation Brett could find would have to be that he was supposed to be, at his core, a creature of love, and God had told them to love all his creations. It was a stretch, but technically, Eddy still applied. Also, Brett had never found any other to be his equal before, no one to joke around with or really get to know. He was pretty sure all of the older angels and archangels hated him, and he had been told for four hundred years that the only other being that lived as long as he did was nothing more than scum. 

So yeah, maybe he was a tad bit affection starved. Was that a problem? Most likely. Did he know how to fix it in a controlled, non-destructive manner? Absolutely not. Was Eddy the first being in several hundred years to show him any basic affection? Sadly. Was that what caused him to latch onto Eddy so quickly? It’s possible. Did he luck out by kidnapping Eddy, seeing as any other demon would have jumped at the opportunity to take down an angel and definitely would have escaped by this point in the narrative? Without a doubt. 

Whatever. None of that was really an issue right now, because the two of them were in the middle of a very intense, very mature game of Never Have I Ever. 

“Never have I ever…” Eddy tapped his fingers against the wood of the chair as he thought. “...been promoted.”

Brett sputtered out something that more or less resembled English. “What kind of question is that? What are the parameters here?” 

“Any kind of promotion.” Eddy looked him dead in the eye, almost challenging Brett to call his bluff. “Excluding anything during your mortal life, obviously. We’re talking afterlife only here, folks.”

“Do… do you guys not have promotions in hell?” Brett asked him hopefully as he put one of his five fingers down. 

“Oh no, they definitely happen. I think.” Eddy shrugged. “But I’ve been classified as a ‘foot demon’ since they day I fell down that rabbit hole, and I still don’t think I’m any closer to head demon than you are. So what was it, Bretty? What did they promote you from?”

Brett flushed a deep red, embarrassed. “Everyone in Heaven starts out as a level one. From there, you have to be at least a level three to work in the field, a level five to command your own platoon, and a level seven to challenge for any other kind of higher up position. The level ones are basically known as the ‘clean up crew’ for lack of a better term, doing handyman jobs around heaven, cleaning up after the archangels make a mess. Luckily for me, I only spent about four hundred years before they decided they were short staffed and needed me to work on Earth. And thus, I was promoted to level three.”

Eddy’s eyes widened at that. “How old are you?” 

“Manners, Eddy,” Brett chided him, smirking. “Don’t you know how rude it is to ask a lady her age?”

Eddy just rolled his eyes, grinning back. “Whatever, I’ll figure it out eventually. You’ll tell me if I wait long enough.” 

Brett nodded. “Sure, sure. Never have I ever…” his eyes lit up, “...kissed another guy.” 

Eddy stuck his tongue out at him as he put a finger down. “Never have I ever been afraid of my boss,” he fired back. 

Brett made a face at that one. “Never have I ever had sex with another guy.” 

“Now that’s just unfair, you can’t keep using that unoriginal crap against me!” Eddy protested. “Besides, I don’t have to put a finger down for that one.” 

Brett looked at him in surprise. 

“Aww, I’m flattered. But hey, just because I’m sexually ambiguous doesn’t mean I’m sexually active,” he pointed out. “Besides, I’m a musician. That just doesn’t add up.” He just couldn’t keep a straight face during that last part, especially not with the little snort that Brett made as he tried to contain his laughter, sides shaking with the effort. “Never have I ever enjoyed nature.” 

Brett’s finger dropped. “Never have I ever owned a pet.” 

“You’re really not the best at this game, are you? Never have I ever worn white robes and passionately strummed a lute.” Eddy downright cackled when Brett put down a finger for that one, leaving him with just his pinky finger daintily extended. 

“I would argue that I don’t do anything passionately, but okay. Never have I ever butchered anyone just for fun.” 

“Now you’re thinking,” Eddy replied, grinning and dropping a finger. He gave Brett another once over, his eyes lingering on the angel’s cheeks, rosy from laughter, and then his smile, on full display just for him. Eddy could feel his heart flutter as he gazed down at the man in front of him.  _ I know exactly what to say for the last one.  _

Eddy bit his lip as a horrible thought came to mind.  _ What if he hates me for it?  _ He looked his angel up and down once again.  _ I don’t think I could live with that.  _ He considered it further.  _ I’m not sure if he would continue to let me live if I said that, actually. _

Brett just grinned a little wider, tugging a little harder at Eddy’s heartstrings. “Well? Cat got your tongue?” He asked playfully, in that slightly too endearing tone that Eddy loved to hear more than anything. 

“Y-yeah, I think I’ve got something.” Eddy took a deep breath, a slight rose colored tint brushing across his cheeks as he continued to stare at Brett, who, to his credit, looked quite excited about what Eddy might say, despite knowing that it would probably end the game for him. “Never have I ever…”

_ Last chance to back out. Am I really about to say this?  _

_ Yes.  _

“...kidnapped anyone and stuck them in my basement for days because I automatically assumed that they would turn me in and cause my death sentence,” Eddy finished in one breath, giving Brett a shit eating grin.

“Oh my God-” Brett appeared startled for only a moment, before rolling his eyes so far back into his head that Eddy was worried he wouldn’t be able to find them again. “Fine, good game, you win.” 

“Aww yes! Does this mean I get to go outside now?” Eddy asked hopefully, giving Brett his biggest, most sincere grin. 

Brett just sighed, his eyes lingering on Eddy’s lips for a moment longer than reasonable. “Go fish.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya everyone! It's the author here, finishing this chapter up a bit late as I complain to anyone who will listen about straining my neck from playing violin earlier. Ling Ling would be so dissapointed in me... ;w; 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this slightly longer chapter, I for sure know that I enjoyed writing it. While I'm down here I wanted to take a moment to seriously thank you all for being so lovely, because ahhhhh I literally can't handle it you are all so sweet! I loved reading every single one of your comments too, they made my entire freaking week. :D


	7. It Was A Cold And Windy Day...

Brett couldn’t believe he was doing this. Unacceptable. Why would he ever begin to think that this was a good idea? 

He felt bad, that's why.

Eddy had been locked up in his basement for two weeks now, and despite Brett’s increasingly exciting attempts at entertaining him, there was only so much fun one could have playing cards tied to a chair. And so, that’s how he found himself untying Eddy, finding his fluffiest coats to bundle the demon in, and taking him outside. 

Eddy was right, he did cave eventually.

“You have to hold my hand the entire time though, okay?” Brett told him this sternly. “And don’t even think about getting away from me, I’m more than capable of replicating that little stunt in the alley.”

“Okay!” Eddy looked like a little kid on Christmas morning, lacing his long fingers through Brett’s before they had even left the basement. 

When they stepped outside, Brett immediately began to feel guilty again. A sharp gust of wind blew by them as they walked down the front steps, piercing through their layers as though they were nothing. He should have bundled Eddy up more, the demon was surely cold. As discreetly as possible, Brett spared the tall boy another glance. 

Eddy, for what it’s worth, looked ecstatic. His cheeks burned a rosy pink in the cool air, and he gripped Brett’s warm hand a little tighter as they walked further. His eyes lit up every time he looked around, almost as though he were a small child. It was incredibly endearing. 

“I thought demons were supposed to be like mini space heaters or something,” Brett teased him quietly. 

Eddy wrinkled his nose. “Well maybe I’m the one demon in all of hell that runs cold.” 

“Lucky you,” Brett replied, gently steering Eddy to one of the nearest shops. “Come on, in here.” He opened the door for Eddy, but since the angel refused to let go of his hand, the two of them were forced to do an awkward shuffle squeeze past one another into the building. 

Eddy nearly tripped over his own feet as he entered the room, giggling and grinning. “Ah wow, thanks dude,” he said, only a slight teasing edge to his voice. 

Brett dragged him up to the counter. Fairy lights decorated the entire shop, and the walls were a pleasing shade of pastel yellow. The woman behind the counter smiled up at the two of them. “What’ll it be today?” She asked cheerfully.    
  
Brett glanced over at Eddy, watching as he bit his lip, looking over the options. “Anything you want I can get for you,” he murmured to him. 

Eddy smiled endearingly down at him. “Thanks, I feel so stupid for forgetting my wallet,” he replied. Then, he turned to the hostess. “One medium original please, black.” 

“One original, coming right up,” the girl nodded, making eye contact with Brett next. “Anything for you, sir?” 

“Um, same as he’s having please, and… can we grab one of those giant cookie things over there in the case, too?” Brett made a motion in the direction of said case, filled with appetizing looking sweets and pastries with one hand, rummaging for some cash with the other. 

“Of course. If you would like to, you can just sit down wherever, we’ll have your food and drinks brought out to you,” The girl smiled, accepting Brett’s payment. “Oh, and I just have to say, you two make simply the most adorable couple!” She gave them a glittering smile. 

Brett froze at that, feeling Eddy’s hand tighten a little bit around his. His eyes grew as wide as saucers. “Oh, uh…” his tongue felt too big for his mouth. 

Eddy, however, gave the woman an appreciative smile. “Thank you so much!” he said, holding their clasped hands higher for the woman to see. “It’s only been a couple of weeks, but he finally caved and said we could go out together!” He let out a little giggle, looking the part of the flustered new boyfriend. “He was a little worried about it though,” he whispered to her, still smiling. 

“Well, you two seem very happy together,” The woman nodded happily. “We’ll have your drinks out for you shortly.”

“Thank you!” Eddy called back over his shoulder as they began to turn away, and then he was the one leading Brett by his hand to a booth in the back corner, dragging him along only a bit. 

“Well, she seemed nice!” Eddy plopped down in the booth, the corners of his lips quirking up. “I figured you’d still want to hold hands so the booth would be best.” 

Brett just nodded, heart still feeling like it was beating out of his chest.

“So, angels take their coffee black then?” Eddy asked, doing his best to strike up a conversation with the almost robotic looking boy to his right. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Brett said, distracted, “You learn black works best pretty quickly after you have to deal with the archangel’s shit for a couple hundred years-sorry did you tell her that we were dating?” 

Eddy just laughed softly, and Brett could feel a warmth overtake him that had nothing to do with the fact that they were seated right next to a heater. “I hoped you wouldn’t mind,” he said, casting his gaze down. “It seemed easier than arguing with her about it.” 

Brett considered it. It checked out. “Fair enough.” 

Eddy mumbled something else, cheeks flushing bright pink as he did so. 

“Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” Brett said, leaning a little closer to him. 

Eddy was about to repeat himself when, with a small  _ thunk,  _ a tray was set onto their table. “Two coffees, black, and one of the almond horn cookies,” A deep voice announced, and the two of them looked up, making eye contact with a dark skinned man, a somewhat tall and imposing figure. The only part about him that didn’t strike fear in Brett’s heart was the fact that he donned a pastel green apron over top of the rest of his black attire. A shiny nametag glinted on his apron, but Brett couldn’t quite make the letters out.

Eddy’s hand tightened in his own as the demon sucked in a quick breath. There was a moment of silence, during which Brett could see this man’s gaze go straight through him, before he turned his burning gaze on Eddy. Eddy’s grip on his left hand tightened further. Brett could feel himself losing circulation. 

Then, the tall man spoke. “Eddy?” 

Eddy let out a small, nervous laugh, his grip on Brett now excruciatingly painful. “Fred, good to see you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> owo what's this???
> 
> (I'm sorry, I'll stop lol)


	8. Don't Freeze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy this fever dream of a chapter lol

Fred, for what it was worth, didn’t really seem that upset about seeing Eddy out in public and walking around. “Hey, man, you feeling any better?” He looked Eddy up and down in a concerned kind of way, possibly looking for shaking. 

“Yeah, yeah, I recovered sometime mid-yesterday, and, um, Brett suggested we go out for drinks to celebrate.” 

“But not the alcoholic kind,” Fred confirmed, looking confused and passing them their coffee. 

  
Eddy let out a tittering laugh as he accepted it. “Well, I personally believe that caffeine is the most underrated addictive.” 

Fred nodded in response to this, looking satisfied. “Ah, yes.” Then, he glanced to the left of Eddy. “I don’t believe Brett and I have met. He doesn’t work with us, does he?” 

Eddy shook his head. “No, but I tell him about the office all the time.” 

Fred nodded, looking almost impressed. “And how long have you two been together? I don’t recall you ever bringing him to any office functions, or introducing him to the rest of our team.” 

“Oh.” Eddy wouldn’t even look at Brett. “He’s really not the biggest fan of meeting new people, so…” he let Fred draw his own conclusions, feeling as though that would be the safer option. 

“And what’s this handsome young man’s name?” Fred smiled politely at Brett, and Eddy had to physically resist himself from yanking the angel behind him.

“Brett, my name is Brett.” Brett have him what he hoped would appear as an easygoing smile, but something told him it looked more forced than anything else. “It’s nice to meet you Fred.” He yanked his hand from Eddy’s and held it out to shake.

Fred shook his hand. “I swear… I must have seen you somewhere before, you seem oddly familiar…” He gave Brett yet another once over, biting his lip. “Maybe you come to bingo nights at the old folks home too?” 

“No, I don’t think that I do,” Brett squeaked out. 

“Hmm. or maybe I saw you working a cashier at the supermarket. Where do you work?” Fred demanded, clearly not grasping the blatient distaste every party involved except for him had for this conversation. 

“Um.” Brett’s mind went blank. Oh, this was just great, this was exactly what he had been trying to achieve via his daily meditation. Or, it would be great, if he didn’t need to lie on the spot to this incredibly dangerous being about how he earned an income. 

Eddy, Brett knew he could take in a fight. Eddy’s boss? Now that, he was a little less sure about. From what he could tell, Fred was a pretty high ranking demon, and besides, this was not how he expected this outing to go! He would have brought some holy water, maybe a cross, if he knew he would encounter a potentially hostile demon. 

“Well, I used to work as a janitor…” he started awkwardly, ready to bullshit his way out of the situation.  _ The longer I keep talking, the more time I have to think up a brilliant excuse to leave this conversation.  _

Fred stopped all of that with a snap of his fingers. “I’ve got it!” Brett and Eddy both looked at him. “You’re one of those minor angels, aren’t you? I knew I recognized you from somewhere work related! You were that guy that had to stick around to clean up after Michael had that board meeting with some higher ranked demons, or at least tried to.” Fred grimaced. “There were just guts everywhere. I still don’t know how you managed to clean all that up.” He turned to Eddy, grinning. “You remember that, right? It was sometime in the middle of the archangel’s era of ‘cooperation.’ And when I say there were guts everywhere, I mean  _ everywhere _ .”

Brett and Eddy very subtly exchanged glances. Neither of them said anything.

Fred bit his lip. “Or am I wrong? Cause if I am, this just became a very awkward conversation, and I would like to preface my very lengthy explanation and apology with saying that I am completely and utterly-”

“You don’t care that he’s an angel?” Eddy’s tone was defensive now, matching his body language. 

“Oh no, I’m furious, and also a little bit concerned, if I’m being honest. This breaks every unspoken law we have, as well as clashes heavily with that healthy over the top sense of self preservation that you usually seem to possess, Eddy. What happened to you? Did he force you into this relationship? Blink twice if you felt forced into this relationship.” 

Brett frowned. This must be the strangest conversation he had ever been a part of.

“Dude, no! I- seriously, he’s nice. I’m fine. He can be a little strange sometimes, but honestly, he’s not the monster we’ve been told that people like him are.” 

“Oh, that’s a relief.” Fred nodded. Then, his brow furrowed again. “No one in hell will be happy about this. And oh god, imagine what the higher ups on his end will think.” He clapped Eddy on the shoulder. “Good going. Not going to lie to you, I’m quite impressed. Lying to me, dating a literal  _ angel _ …” He chuckled. “You’ve got balls, kid.” 

Eddy pursed his lips, approximating a smile. “Thank you?” 

“No problem, kid.” Fred nodded at Brett once more before turning away. “Enjoy your coffee. Oh, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about that whole lying to me thing either, just because I’m impressed. You’re going to have to kill overtime this week, you hear?” 

Eddy bit his lip in an attempt not to laugh. He felt like he had just run a marathon. His heart was doing it’s best to pound its way out of his chest, and his arms were shaking. 

Brett, meanwhile, looked almost green, whether from the thought of Eddy’s overtime being spent ripping people to shreds or just from the stress of the entire conversation that he just had to sit through, Eddy couldn’t be sure. 

“Take care, Fred,” Eddy called back after the retreating demon, before turning to face Brett with a smile that was only a little bit shaky. He was pretty sure both of them knew how close their brush with death was during the course of that conversation. “So, where were we?” He asked, moving to pick up the coffee closest to him. 

Brett let out a tiny, somewhat hysterical laugh, and let his head fall back against the booth behind them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would literally die for you all, thank you so much for all the love and affection you've been giving me and this work. I stg you all are actual angels. :D


	9. Live In The Moment

Brett and Eddy sat in silence, sipping their respective coffees. Neither of them made any attempt to make eye contact with one another, but it didn’t feel awkward. They were really just sitting there, soaking in the last twenty minutes. The only lingering question between the two of them was “Where do we go from here?”

“We could stop by the park if you wanted to,” Brett offered quietly, after a while. “I know it’s not exactly paradise out there right now, but…” He sighed. “Who am I kidding. I don’t quite know when it happened, but I don’t exactly think you’re being kidnapped anymore…” He shook his head in bewilderment. “You’re free to go.”

Eddy took a long, slow sip, looking Brett directly in the eyes. “The park sounds nice!” He smiled, beginning to slide out of the booth and lacing his fingers through Brett’s once more when the shorter man joined him, absentmindedly dropping a tip on the table. Eddy’s hands were cold. “I’d love it if you could show it to me!” 

Brett looked down at their intertwined hands, confused. “You know I’m not deluding myself that I can keep you here anymore, right? You can do whatever you want. We don’t have to hold hands anymore.” He was currently doing his best to ignore the possibility that Eddy might flee with his newfound freedom and blurt out his secret to the first angel that would give him the time of day.

“Oh, I know,” Eddy said cheerfully, opening the door for Brett. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the park during winter. Is it nice?” 

“I mean, I guess.” Brett shrugged. “Everything looks kind of dead…” 

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to take me there so that I can see it myself then,” Eddy said stubbornly. 

Brett was absolutely floored by that logic. “I guess I do.” 

Neither of them noticed the TV blinking behind them, in the window of the shop, the woman talking on the screen, or the scrolling text below her.  _ “Man, age 28, found dead in alleyway behind Frances’ Pizzaria. Cause of death, still unknown at this time, though foul play is suspected. Suspects would be short with dark hair. Please contact the police if you have any knowledge about this tragedy.” _

Brett didn’t even realize that Eddy was shivering until they crossed the street. The demon’s hands weren’t the only part of him that were unreasonably cold. He could see Eddy’s breath in the crisp winter air, and his cheeks and neck were tinted a slight pink. Even as he looked up at him, the demon let out a shaky breath of warm air. 

“Here,” Brett said, without really thinking about it. He quickly unwrapped his scarf with one hand, tossing it up to him. Eddy caught the garment with ease.

“Are you sure?” He looked down at the angel and smiled, already rearranging the fuzzy cloth so that it better covered his neck. 

“Of course,” Brett replied, still not giving himself time to think. If he did that, then he would have to linger on such important facts such as Eddy’s slightly crooked yet incredibly endearing smile, or maybe the way his eyes lit up whenever he looked down at Brett, or even the way he curled his long, slender fingers in on themselves to keep warm, tucking them away beneath the sweater paws he gave himself in the absence of gloves. He would have to admit to himself that Eddy’s face was pretty, something that he had been desperately trying to ignore up until this point, something that was rather difficult to accomplish in its own right, even with the whole kidnapping him and locking him in his basement thing. 

Brett sighed, doing his best to banish all those thoughts. Those were dangerous thoughts. Fred was right when he said that the higher ups on his end wouldn’t be happy with Brett’s new friend, not if they found out who he was, what he was. Brett wasn’t an idiot, he knew it was coming. They had been too careless already, at some point, the wrong person was going to find out who he was hanging around with. But that was a concern for another day. 

Besides, how could he let thoughts like that trouble him when Eddy was right there next to him, hugging close to his arm glancing around at everything he saw like an overexcited puppy? Brett smiled fondly at him.  _ Does he even go outside when he doesn’t have to work?  _ Something told him that Eddy had never went outside just to admire nature, a thing that Brett was excited to introduce him to.    
  
“Well, we’re here,” Brett finally said. “It isn’t much, but…” 

“Wow!” Eddy interrupted him, gasping. 

It really wasn’t that impressive. A couple of trees lined the edge of the curved walkway, their leaves all having fallen long before. Their dark branches were a stark contrast to the silvery white sky, overcast. A couple of ornate benches sat where there would be shade if it were spring, some half-assed shrubbery on either side of them. The path looked like stepping stones, and a somewhat bland fountain sat in the middle of this circular park, water gurgling happily despite the chilling temperature. 

“I’m glad you like it, I guess,” Brett chuckled.

“They all look so… happy,” Eddy whispered. 

Brett looked around them, and then he began to get it. A woman jogged past them, talking in a high pitched voice to her dog, bounding alongside behind them. Two girls sat aside the fountain wall, tossing coins in and sharing secrets. Their giggles carried across the entire park. A mother and her baby sat on one bench, while a couple leaned against the base of one of the trees, whispering in each other’s ears. The park was alive, and though not the most impressive at face value, the people that they watched were making it come alive, bustling with laughter and joy.    
  


Eddy was just standing there, taking it all in, when Brett squeezed his hand. “Yeah, they do look happy,” he whispered back to him, smiling. 

Eddy leaned down and kissed him softly on the cheek. “Thank you,” he whispered. 

Brett felt a confusing sort of fluttery feeling travel through his body and he squeezed Eddy’s hand again. Yup, it was definitely best to just not think for a while, best to just live in the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk about y'all, but I loved writing this chapter sooo much. It's definitely a lot less "funny" than I tried to make some of the other chapters and I'm back on my home turf of "just a little too sappy". What did y'all think? I'd love to hear whether you like my lame attempts at humor or chapters like this more! :D


	10. Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guyssssss, there's so many of us now! I don't know what it is, but omg there's so many new english fics on here and I'm so excited for each and every single one of them (but especially the multichaptered ones like peppermentgrace's lost myself again)!!!!! 
> 
> Also, a heads up: I have a more definitive direction that I want this story to go, which is a little happier and funnier (hopefully). Unfortunately, that means I need to clear a certain angst hurdle first... So hopefully it won't be that bad and we can go back to our regular scheduled fluff and crack soon enough. Thank you all for sticking with the story and the comments and kudos! You all make my day! :D

Brett was ninety percent sure that he and Eddy were dating. Now, usually, it would be in his best interest to be a hundred percent sure, but he was also pretty certain that Eddy had just decided this without his input and ran with it. Not that he particularly minded, of course. 

What tipped him off, one might ask?   
  


After Brett had bid Eddy goodbye at the park, earning himself another small peck on the cheek, he had frankly expected to never see the demon again. And who could blame him for thinking that? It’s not often that the kidnapee runs straight back to their kidnapper. 

So one can easily imagine his surprise when he walked downstairs into his bright and shiny kitchen the next morning, only to find the tall demon slouching on one of his cream colored chairs. 

“Dude, there’s like no back support on this thing,” Eddy complained, cracking about six different bones in his neck. “Where did you get these?”

Brett had been shocked, and more importantly, dressed in nothing but his boxers and a fluffy robe. He managed to contain his gaping to only a couple of seconds while his brain, waking up and in desperate need of caffeine, rebooted. “Uhhh, I think they came with the house,” he responded, doing his best to sound like Eddy had not caught him off guard and unprepared, first thing in the morning, when he looked like a hedgehog and sounded like he had just smoked a pack. 

“Oh, okay then.” Eddy’s face split into a huge grin. “Good morning, sleepyhead!” 

“Good morning,” Brett responded, bewildered.  _ How did he get into my house? _

From then on, it became almost an unspoken rule that wherever Brett went, Eddy would eventually pop up. Sometimes he saw him every day of the week, sometimes he saw him four or five times a month. It didn’t matter, Eddy would always come back at some point, a fact that Brett had begun to trust blindly, looking forward to each visit more than the last. 

Brett was walking to get bubble tea? Bam. Eddy was there, all soft smiles and offering to cover the cost. The employees had started whispering to each other about the two of them, as well as Brett’s change in attitude. Their strange, almost daily customer had been transformed into a blushing, stuttering, smiling mess in the time it took for them to blink their eyes, all thanks to the mysterious man in black beside him. 

Brett thought it would be nice to go busking? As he played, Eddy would often slink up behind him and watch. Sometimes, if he felt like it, the demon made small suggestions about what to play next, or even offered up tiny facts about the pieces that should have been lost to humanity at this point.

Brett didn’t think that was fair. He had already been playing for two hundred years before Eddy had even died, and yet the taller boy was so much more knowledgeable about the ‘composer's original intent,’ just because hell got all the good musicians. It wasn’t his fault that heaven was so stingy! 

Brett would often busk for hours, simply because he could, not to mention he loved the sound of it. There was nothing more relaxing to him then playing his violin out in the open air, the natural hustle and bustle of the park behind him, and Eddy standing there watching, a small smile on his face. 

They would walk around afterwards, sometimes holding hands, Brett’s violin case still slung across his back. Brett would stop occasionally, dispersing the money to whoever he felt needed it most. 

Eddy had let out a fond chuckle the first time he saw, though there was no malice whatsoever behind his words. “Of course you would do that. It must be a huge part of your job. ‘Do a thousand selfless acts, each one more thoughtful than the last.’” He paused. “Or maybe it’s extra credit. Is it extra credit?” 

Brett had smiled back at him, though his was a bittersweet one. “Actually, no,” he whispered. “It doesn’t matter what we do on our own time, as long as we’re getting rid of sinners, no one really cares.” 

Eddy’s smile had dipped for only a moment, before returning full force. “Well that just makes you all the more special, then.” 

That was the first time that Eddy had kissed him, right there in the middle of the sidewalk. Wind blew around them, But Brett wasn’t cold. Eddy’s eyes were closed, and he had slid his hands around Brett’s petite waist. 

Brett almost dropped his violin. Almost.

It was like he had forgotten how to kiss back. Eddy pulled away, slight confusion crossing his features. He had opened his mouth to ask Brett… something. He would never know, because that was the moment his hands reached out, grabbing the collar of Eddy’s jacket and pulling him back down, kissing him again. 

When they pulled apart, Brett’s breath fogged up in the open air, what little of it there was. He felt breathless, high enough to touch the stars. 

It made sense for Eddy to be there, made sense for him to be a part of Brett’s life. He wasn’t quite sure why, but they fit together like puzzle pieces. 

So of course it made sense that Eddy would be there when the archangels came for him. Brett had woken up early, thinking he could make breakfast for two, in case his usual company came over. That much he expected, Eddy had been coming for breakfast most days that week. The one thing he didn’t expect was to find his company standing in his living room, pinned against the wall by one hand. One hand that belonged to a very tall, very skinny man. 

Even as Brett reached the end of the stairs, Eddy’s attacker turned to face him, lips curling into a cruel imitation of a smile as he curled his fingers tighter around Eddy’s pale throat. Brett’s ears were ringing as time seemed to slow to a stop.

Eddy wasn’t moving anymore. Instead, he hung limply against the wall, head lolling to the side even as his attacker squeezed harder. 

Someone was screaming. It took Brett a moment to realize that that person was him. 


	11. A Mockery Of Incredulity

“Brett! How nice of you to join us!” The angel’s tone was pleasant, though his eyes burned with a righteous fury. “Though I suppose I expected you up earlier… I suppose some exceptions can be made, adjusting to Earth is hard.”

Brett spared his watch a glance, his breathing heavy with nerves. His muscles were wound up like springs. It was five thirty in the morning.

The angel continued talking, taking in Brett’s distress. “You’re lucky I got here when I did, just in time to find this  _ scum  _ trying to break into your house.” He gave Eddy a little shake.

“Put him down, Gabriel.” For as scared as he was, Brett’s voice was surprisingly steady. If he didn’t know himself so well, he would even think to say that he sounded intimidating.

“What?” Gabriel’s mockery of incredulity gave Brett shivers. “I thought you would be happy with me, for saving you from this monster.” 

_ No, not Eddy, never Eddy.  _ Brett shook his head, it was all he could think to do.  _ You’re the real monster here. _

“Unless, of course… you’d been so foolish as to invite this demon into your home,” Gabriel said slowly, and Brett knew where this was going before he even finished his next sentence. “And that’s something no proper angel would ever do.” Gabriel examined his perfectly filed nails. “But then again, do you know what else no proper angel would ever do?” 

Brett bit his lip. Silence was for the best now. Silence wouldn’t get him into any more trouble than he was already in.  _ But silence won’t keep Eddy alive.  _

In a time where it felt like he had none, Brett found his voice. “Challenge you.”

Gabriel looked genuinely surprised for only a moment, before his golden eyes flashed with mirth. He chuckled. “Come again?” 

“Challenge you,” Brett repeated, chin up. “No proper angel would challenge you, but here I am.” He paused, biting his lip. “Since you’re in my home, basic guest rights allow you the option to stand down and accept my terms without a fight. But I have this strange feeling that you would rather choke on your own tongue than go for that option. So drop the demon, and fight me.”

Gabriel outright laughed at that, though he did let go of Eddy’s throat. The demon slumped to the floor in a pile. “Don’t even try to lecture me in guest rights, Yang, I  _ made _ the guest rights. Besides, it’d be pretty hard to challenge an angel when you yourself no longer qualify as one.” 

The blood was slowly draining from Brett’s face, he could feel it. He began to feel faint. “I’m sorry?” 

“You heard me,” the archangel outright sneered. “What, you thought we wouldn’t find out about your little slip up in the alley? Tsk tsk, Brett…” Was it just him, or had the archangel began to grow? Gabriel’s eyes seemed to glow brighter even as Brett backed away from him on shaking legs. 

Eddy chose that moment to make a strangled kind of coughing noise from the corner, and Brett felt his heartbeat doing somersaults. “I-i don’t know what you’re talking about,” Brett finally replied, doing his best to keep the archangel’s attention on him. Then again, bolder. “I can’t think of anything that I have done that would concern you.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” Gabriel’s words cut like knives. “You killed a man, Brett. I’m pretty fucking sure that concerns me, as your superior.”

“It wasn’t my fault.” Brett’s head was astoundingly clear, even as his back brushed the wall.  _ Nowhere else to go. _

“Oh come on, don’t draw this out,” Gabriel all but rolled his eyes. “I’m on a tight schedule here, you aren’t even my most important meeting today.” He cracked his neck, left then right, and rolled his shoulders. Brett’s eyes zeroed in on the sudden movement behind Gabriel. Rustling feathers, white as snow. 

Gabriel’s wings seemed to take up the whole room. They curved almost inward, and the primaries must have been as long as Brett’s forearms. They shone like a beacon in the low morning light, and they were the most beautiful thing that Brett had ever seen. It was a real shame, honestly, seeing as Brett might not get to see much else before he died. 

It’s not like he planned to lay down and die. But his back was already against the wall, and as Gabriel took another step towards him, Brett could feel a sudden tugging in his gut, a feeling of subordination, like he should drop to his knees then and there. Wind tousled Gabriel’s short hair, the dirty blonde locks illuminated. 

“Don’t worry, my little cherub, I’m not going to kill you,” the archangel said quietly, even as tears trickled down Brett’s face. Gabriel cupped his cheeks, leaning closer, his voice barely more than a whisper. “This will hurt far worse than any death I could have gifted you.” 

Brett could feel himself fading into unconsciousness. His brain was turning fuzzy, the room spinning slightly. He squinted through his glasses, doing his best to stay awake. He had to focus on something, anything. There was an old grandfather clock in his foyer. It was oak wood, with a golden pendulum and blue accents on the clock face. The wood still smelled faintly of lacquer, despite its age, and he could never quite figure out how to sync up the clock with the actual time…

Brett gave into the lull of sleep, closing his eyes.  _ So this is what Eddy felt like…  _ He slumped to the hardwood floor.

Gabriel stood over him for a moment, before reaching out with one foot and very carefully, very casually, poking Brett in the stomach. Pursing his lips, he nodded. “It’s a real shame,” he whispered into the empty air even as he turned away, wings fading to nothing. “I liked you, Brett.”

The house was silent. Brett lay sprawled across the wooden floors, glasses askew and hair still messy from sleep. The clock read six after seven, yet one would have to be a real fool to trust Brett’s grandfather clock. He had said it himself, he had never quite figured out how to sync it up.

It was hours later, surrounded by this eerie silence, that Eddy finally began to come to. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear the (badly written) angst is almost at an end for now, guys. Now comes the fun chapters. :D


	12. Hope For The Best

The house was supposed to be dark. Usually, when Eddy felt this strange sense of being awake when he wasn’t ready to be awake yet, it was dark outside. His stomach twisted itself into knots as everything flooded back to him.  _ Breakfast, the archangel, Brett.  _

Eddy shot up like a rocket, his head spinning and vision fuzzy in only a moment. He let out a small gasp at the feeling, giving himself a moment to lean against the wall, to let his vertigo fade away.    
  
It took him only moments more to find and get to Brett’s body, his form illuminated by the sunlight streaming through his open windows. Birds were singing, a slight breeze was coming through the window, and Brett lay unconscious in front of him. 

Eddy let out a small, angry hiss as he noticed the black and blue marks that seemed to wrap their way around Brett’s jawline. He propped up his love’s head in his lap, checking his breathing to reassure himself that Brett was still alive. 

Alive, but in pain. Even as Eddy took great care so as not to nudge the injured boy, Brett’s facial features twisted, and he let out a strangled sort of gasp. The shorter boy was cold to the touch, colder than Eddy could ever remember him being. He paused. That was odd, something didn’t seem quite right about that. 

“Brett?” he whispered softly, having frankly zero idea how to help heal anyone in the first place, let alone Brett. This was especially true seeing as Brett bore no physical wounds, apart from his necklace of bruises. It wouldn’t be until much later that evening that Eddy would find that he bore a similar ring of purple around his neck. “Brett, dude, are you awake?” 

_ Ah yes, Eddy, eloquent as always.  _

But hey, he was a demon worrying after the aftermath of an archangel, miracles could happen. And they appeared to be happening in real time. It could just be Eddy’s optimistic hope, but Brett seemed like he was beginning to come to. The boy in his arms stirred, squinching his already closed eyes shut further before opening them slowly.    
  
Eddy made direct eye contact with him, feeling himself relax. Brett was okay. They were okay.    
  


Brett blinked once, twice. He squinted, and then scowled. “Look what he did to you,” he whispered, voice barely more than a murmur. “I’ll kill him if he touches you again…” His hand reached up and caressed the side of Eddy’s neck. 

What should have been a touching moment was absolutely ruined by the loud squeak that Eddy let out, flinching away from Brett’s freezing cold fingers. This, in turn, nearly jostled Brett from his lap, and they both ended up more startled and confused than anything else. Eddy gave him a nervous grin, biting his lip. “Sorry, cold.” 

Brett stared at him a moment longer, the corners of his mouth twitching up. He was trying his hardest not to say anything, and Eddy was the first of them to break, cracking up and grinning infectiously. Of course, it’s safe to say that Brett was quick to follow him in his uncontrollable laughter, and before they knew it, the two of them were practically clutching each other in an attempt not to collapse, their fit of giggles completely shattering any semblance of peace in Brett’s house.    
  


_ I’m like ninety six percent sure that we’re both in shock right now. _   
  
“What- what even happened?” Eddy wheezed out between peals of laughter, clutching his sides. 

Brett let his head fall back and hit Eddy’s thigh as he thought it over, still grinning wildly. “I don’t know man, but  _ dude,  _ I challenged an archangel.” 

“Oh yeah?” Eddy responded. “I must have missed that part, what with my having been unconscious and all. You simply must fill me in, how’d that go for you?” His fingers began to absentmindedly tangle into Brett’s hair, playing with the dark strands and half heartedly massaging his scalp. 

“Well, I’m still here, aren’t I?” Brett looked pleased with himself. “So I’d say pretty fricking well.” He let out an even louder fit of laughter. “How am I still alive? Eddy, why am I still here?” 

Eddy smiled a little bit at that, doing his best not to think about what would have happened if Brett was not still here. “It’s an amazing feat, for sure. Food for thought.” 

“And you know the craziest bit?” Brett asked him.    
  
“Hmm?” 

“I didn’t break my glasses, they’re completely fine.” They both dissolved into another fit of giggles upon hearing that. 

“I love you,” Eddy said suddenly, blurting the words out as though they were some of the last he might ever say to Brett. Immediately, his cheeks flushed. “That was stupid, I’m sorry. You don’t have to say anything back yet, I know it’s too early to decide something like that. Just…” He smiled. “Tell me when you’re ready. If you’re ready. Not before.” 

The shorter boy nodded, returning Eddy’s smile. “Thank god, I was about to just throw up finger guns and hope for the best.” Eddy’s resulting grin could brighten even the darkest of nights. 

Yeah, they were definitely both in shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all are the lucky recipients of this fun and confusing filler chapter!!! I'm already mostly done with the next one, and while this is a little shorter, it's kinda a necessary break between this and what's next to come. Um... I hope you're all enjoying this story as much as I am, and thank you so much for your continued support! It means the world to me and every comment I get on this thing brightens my day. :D


	13. The Second Movement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting this quick, hope you all enjoy!

Eddy was actually about to make himself and Brett something for lunch when it happened. Brett had gone out to his back porch to feed the birds. (“Why are there still birds, isn’t it winter? Shouldn't they be migrating right now?” Eddy had asked, to which Brett had cocked his head in confusion and replied, “What do you mean? There are always birds around.” It was at that moment that Eddy had realized he was completely right. This was an odd fact that should probably be chalked up to nothing more than the fact that wildlife seemed to be attracted to Brett’s angelic aura.)    
  
The raven flew in through one of the open windows, scaring Eddy senseless and dropping a sizable ribbon bound package on the table before flying out again. Honestly, if he didn’t know any better, Eddy would have said he had imagined the bird. No normal raven could carry a box twice its size.

Sighing, he approached the box cautiously, ripping the scroll from the top when he had finally deemed it safe to open. The people back at the office loved a good laugh, and this would not have been the first time he had tried to open a box labeled “for work” and instead released a minor plague into the world, or found nothing but reanimated cockroaches, his least favorite of the creepy crawlies. However, this package appeared mostly safe, for now. 

Eddy set down the plate he was holding and opened the letter, scanning through it quickly. His brow furrowed. It was from Fred. 

_ Eddy,  _

_ I don’t quite know how to write this out in a letter, but if this conversation took place in person, it would definitely be way more awkward. There’s no real sympathetic way that I can say this, and I will be the first to tell you that I am really bad at sympathy, but it really sucks, what happened to Brett.  _

_ I know that statement in itself is admittedly not very comforting, but I can say this: no one in hell really cares about your loss. Oh, that wasn’t really comforting either. Usually, this would be the part where I say “we’re all so sorry for your loss,” but since you hid your boyfriend from us, we never really got a chance to meet him. Also, if I’m being honest, they really just didn’t care that much. You can’t really blame them for that. _

This letter was getting stranger and stranger by the line. Eddy wondered offhand if Fred had been drinking recently. 

_ I bet you’re wondering how I found out so quickly. Word travels fast, and it’s not every day that heaven finds themself short an angel. I heard they’re really broken up about it, and mad that they’re going to have to find a replacement. I hope you can find a replacement as well, for the hole Brett must have left in your chest. _

Eddy could almost feel the long awkward pause. Fred was wrong, this was just as weird as it would have been in person. 

_ I hope that wasn’t insensitive. Anywho, the kids at the office put together a package, with no cockroaches this time, I promise. I made sure myself, seeing as grief is a terrible thing and you’re probably already suffering enough already.  _

Eddy could hear the back door creak open slowly, then close again. He didn’t look up, he was beginning to understand the sounds of Brett’s house. Brett walked through the room then, absentmindedly waving his arm in Eddy‘s direction. “I’m feeling a little weird, gonna go lie down,” he called out. 

“Okay, I’ll let you know when I have lunch ready,” Eddy responded. He could hear Brett shuffling around for a couple moments more before he finally plopped down in his room somewhere.

_ I assume he used to cook for you, since you definitely shouldn’t be cooking for anyone, so we’ve sent you a care package. The lasagna might be a little squished, but it was made with love. And only a couple of organs.  _

Eddy made a face. He could hear Brett rustling around in the other room, tossing and turning. Maybe he should make him tea… that always used to make him feel better when he felt under the weather.

Eddy continued to move around the kitchen, glancing down at the letter every so often as he began to make the tea. 

_ I know it’s also incredibly awkward to ask when you think you’re going to be able to work in a letter like this, but quarterly numbers are almost up and you’re so close to a promotion. I know the pain of loss can be near unbearable, and of course we’ll give you some time to recover, but if you could just work a little more overtime, maybe cover Beth’s shift, you could easily make the numbers.  _

_ All the best, and good luck with reorganizing the shambles that were once your life, _

_ Fred _

Eddy dropped the tea bag into the boiled water and threw a bit of honey into it. He picked it up carefully, to avoid spillage. It was at that moment that he heard a shriek from Brett’s room. He was immediately on red alert. 

“Brett?” He called out cautiously, starting to walk in the direction of the shriek. The repetitive nature of the frightened call from another room and the nervous response was starting to concern him. The house seemed to be holding its breath. 

  
And then, “I’m fine!” Brett all but squeaked out, just as Eddy was just about to open the door. “Nothing’s the matter here, no sir!”

Eddy paused, steaming tea still in hand. “Are you sure? You sounded upset…” He waited another moment. “I have tea…”

“No I’m fine, I-i just fell off the bed.” Brett responded. 

“I didn’t hear a thunk,” Eddy replied, more to himself than Brett. 

“Seriously, I’m fine now, thanks! You can leave, I’ll come out for lunch in a little bit,” Brett called back through the door, which was open only a crack. Eddy could see Brett’s shadow moving behind it, frantic.

“But I have the tea now,” Eddy countered, fingers itching to start pushing on the door. 

“Really,” Brett squeaked back, voice about an octave higher than it should have been. “I’m okay.”  _ What is going on? _

Eddy sighed. “Bro, I’m coming in, okay? I’ll give you like five seconds or whatever, but I’m coming in.” He counted to five, slowly. “Alright, ready or not, here I-” 

The words died on Eddy’s tongue as he pushed the door the rest of the way open. Brett was standing in the middle of the room, shirtless. He was holding a small trash can, and though frozen completely in place by Eddy’s confused stare, he appeared to have been stuffing the small plastic container with something only moment’s before.    
  
This wasn’t even the most surprising part. It looked like a pillow had exploded inside the room. White feathers were scattered everywhere, covering almost every open surface, as well as strewn throughout Brett’s disheveled hair. Brett gave Eddy a small, very awkward smile. “Umm… they don’t make pillows like they used to?” His eyes looked red and puffy, and even as Eddy watched, he halfheartedly leaned down and picked up another small handful of feathers, shoving them almost robotically in the comically small trash can. 

“Brett,” Eddy whispered into the open air, definitely not dropping the teacup because this was most definitely not a dramatic comedy, “What happened to your wings?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! I hope you all like it, this is more or less the beginning of the second part of the story! I couldn't help it, I was so excited that I posted it early. Lots of set up going on here. Can you figure out what's happening? I'd love to hear what you think! :D


	14. Birds of a Feather

“Wings?” Brett laughed nervously. His eyes darted around the room as though searching for the nearest exit.

  
Eddy stepped slowly inside of the room, setting the teacup down on Brett’s dresser. Brett looked almost like a cornered animal. “Come on, dude,” he said softly, pausing as the ghost of a smirk crossed his face. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” 

There was a brief pause. Neither of them laughed. Then, Brett nodded his head just the slightest bit, his eyes still wide with a healthy dose of fear.

“Fair enough,” Eddy sighed. He hadn’t actually expected that to work. Carefully, he shrugged off his black hoodie, moving from there to pull his shirt over his shoulders and struggling only momentarily with the dark fabric. Finally, Eddy rolled his shoulders, beginning to feel the prickly sensation in his upper back. He closed his eyes.

Eddy’s wings seemed to fill up the whole room, as Gabriel’s before him had. They were a deep, almost obsidian black, and almost seemed to suck in the light around them. Brett inhaled sharply, almost unable to take his eyes off of the darkened plumage. He knew that demons had darker feathers simply because everyone knew that, it was common knowledge, but he had never really understood what they looked like in person. 

For belonging to such a minor demon, Eddy’s wings just  _ felt _ powerful. The slightly curved feathers rustled slightly as he shook them out, flexing his wings after keeping them contained for so long. It looked like Eddy kept them well groomed, the dark feathers shining in the low light of Brett’s room. Angels usually didn’t bother with their wings too often, just making sure to properly groom them every now and then so they didn’t get to scraggly looking. Unfortunately, this action was usually done in pairs, but Brett usually just did his best to groom his own wings, so he knew they never looked as good as they should. 

He felt his cheeks heat up even as he stood there, still transfixed by the demon in front of him.

Eddy let out a weak chuckle, tucking his wings in closer to himself after he finished stretching them out. “Come on dude, don’t just keep staring at them, it’s weird,” he said softly. 

Brett shook his head a little, snapping out of it.  _ I don’t even want to see my wings, let alone show them to him…  _ If Brett’s time on Earth had taught him anything, it was that the oddities about a person were best left concealed, and he had been so frightened of being discovered that he almost didn’t even stretch his wings in private, in the safety of his own house. Plus, Gabriel had told him that if anyone found out that he was an angel, he would be immediately recalled to heaven and demoted.

For an angel who put himself through so much just to adhere to the rules, it was truly amazing that he had fucked up that badly…

Eddy was looking at him expectantly, with just a touch of concern. Brett set down his cheap plastic trash can, nodding to himself. He focused as well, feeling a slight ripple under his skin before his wings burst forth, causing him to wince in pain. It had never hurt to stretch them before, but the sharp spikes of pain running through his shoulder blades and back were enough to halt his movements almost entirely with a sharp hiss. 

Eddy looked sadly at him. “Oh, Brett,” he whispered softly. His expression was pained as he looked upon his love’s painfully thinned out plumage. The feathers, once a soft, pure white, were rumpled and tousled, bent and broken, and too many of them to count had fallen out, scattered across the room during Brett’s initial panic. What once would have been a beauty to look at just seemed withered and dead, a hollow imitation of the angel’s former glory. 

Brett squeezed his eyes shut, biting his lip as he turned away from Eddy. His wings curled in, closer to his body. He could feel bile rising in his throat, and he felt sick to his stomach.  _ I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  _

Eddy was taking careful steps in the direction of the now shaking boy, and making small soothing sounds. When he finally reached him, he ran his hands very slowly up and down Brett’s arms, before tugging him closer to him, hugging him. Brett latched onto him, hugging him back and doing his best to ignore the burning tears that had began to prick in the corners of his eyes. 

Now that he was there, in Eddy’s arms, Eddy could see the other, glaringly obvious problem with Brett’s wings. Very slowly, he reached out to touch one of Brett’s remaining feathers, the blackened tip crunching slightly just under his gentle touch. Eddy noticeably winced at the odd sensation, running his fingers through what once were silky soft feathers. 

Brett had initially stiffened at the forreign feeling of Eddy’s hands on his wings, though he relaxed quickly as the demon absentmindedly began to straighten out the feathers still on his wings, running his fingers carefully through the fragile feathers again and again. He wasn’t going to lie, it actually felt really nice to have someone else work through them for once. 

“How bad are they, really?” Brett finally whispered into the open air. “I’m afraid to look.” 

Eddy contemplated this for a moment. Brett’s wings looked like they’d been through hell and back. They were dirty, rumpled, or just plain missing, sitting around them on the floor. He had never seen an angel’s wings before, but he was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to blacken at the tips. Eventually, he just gave Brett a sad kind of smile. “I’ve seen worse,” he said quietly. 

Brett buried his head back into the crook of Eddy’s neck, keeping his eyes closed. 

“Does it hurt?” The next question sounded almost guilty. 

Brett nodded slowly, he wasn’t going to lie to Eddy, his wings were throbbing. Though from what, he couldn’t exactly pinpoint. “A little, dull pain.” 

Eddy didn’t seem to have an answer to that, but his touch became somewhat gentler. So, when Eddy grabbed his shoulders and very carefully began to turn him around so that he could see the wings better, Brett didn’t complain. He just turned, letting himself get lost in the feeling of Eddy’s fingers running through the feathers, again, and again, and again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much fun writing this chapter, so I hope you all like it as much as I do! Your support has meant the world to me. :D


	15. Bubble Tea and Food For Thought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's an Eddy chapter! I hope you enjoy this one, it's probably gonna be important later on...
> 
> (Plus I couldn't wait to show y'all this character lol :D)

Research was time consuming. Research was boring. Research was undoubtedly not going to lead him anywhere, in the long run. Research generally sucked. There was a lot Eddy could say about research, none of it good.

Yet despite all of these incredibly compelling reasons to stop researching, Eddy continued. He wasn’t sure what he expected to find. Brett had gone to bed hours before, still shivering slightly. A couple more of his feathers had fallen out, but not enough to make a substantial difference. 

And so Eddy had checked on Brett in his bed. He had given the shivering boy blankets and pillows and left him to sleep. He had swept up all the feathers and dusted the counters. He had made himself lunch, and dinner a couple hours after that. And so now, he sat there, researching. 

Honestly, it wasn’t doing anything, and his eyes were beginning to swim with words and letters, none of them particularly helpful. He had consulted the Bible first, (until the tingling in his fingers had gotten too strong) but there weren’t any recorded instances that he could even compare to Brett’s situation anyway. Then he had surfed the web for a bit, looking specifically for PDFs of old texts and forgotten writings, but still, nothing came up. He had even gone through seventeen ‘pay to read’ documents that he had found, despite the chunk it took out of his wallet. Nothing. 

_ I just need to know what’s happening, so I can help him.  _ Eddy bit his lip, slamming his laptop shut in anger.  _ Nothing is telling me anything. _

Still scowling, Eddy threw his coat over his shoulder. Maybe he should just work. It had been a while since he actually did his job, and he certainly had enough pent up energy for it right now.  _ But I don’t want to work…  _ He should probably at least get some fresh air, Brett had said something about that being ‘good for him’ or whatever. Then, Brett would be happy at least, and he wouldn’t have to stare at his computer screen any longer. 

He called back to Brett one last time before he left. “Heading out, don’t die while I’m gone!” he paused. “You need me to pick up anything while I’m out?”

“Can you pick up bubble tea?” Brett called back, sounding sleepy. Eddy felt a small stab of guilt run through him. He must have woken him.    
  
“Yeah, I’ll be back soon.” He responded, then, “Get some sleep while I’m gone.”

“What do you think I was trying to do?” Brett grumbled back, barely audible through his sandy colored walls. 

Eddy cracked a small grin at that and closed the door as softly as he could when he left, starting to walk. He didn’t put too much thought into it, he just let his feet take him where they wanted to go. He nodded politely as he passed what appeared to be a mother and her child, out for an evening stroll. 

He walked a couple more blocks and grinned warily at a man donning a long, beige trenchcoat and did his best to stay as far away from him on the narrow sidewalk as he deemed socially acceptable without coming off as rude. 

When he finally made it to what appeared to be his destination, Eddy was pleasantly surprised. He didn’t think he’d ever seen this place before. Then again, it wasn’t like he usually spent his nights wandering the city. 

He opened the door to the shop, enjoying the jingle of the little bell above the door. The store was colorfully, artistically dark, with little knick knacks and other various thingamabobs covering every open surface. There were a couple of tables shoved haphazardly into one of the corners, and there was a mahogany counter almost straight ahead of him, in the back of the room. 

Eddy walked up to the woman behind the counter. He couldn’t quite place her age, but she looked like she could fit somewhere within the range of teenagers to early adult. Her hair was large and curly, the ends of it tipped a deep purple. Her eyes seemed to follow his every move, and Eddy reassessed her. She wore, like him, all black. A small cross was dangling from her silver bracelet.   
  
The woman gave him a smile that seemed to stretch just a little bit too far across her face. Buttons hung from her ears. “Are you lost, dear?” Her chestnut eyes sparkled with curiosity. 

Eddy sniffed a little bit, the scent of cinnamon and cedar coating his nose. “Is this… Bubble Trouble? I saw the sign out front and it said Palm Readings and…”

“Bubble tea, yes!” The woman grinned. “Welcome! My name is Mary, I run the shop. Now, do you want two cups, or just the one for your friend?” 

Eddy considered this. “Just the one please,” he said. Mary smiled knowingly, and Eddy was struck with a strange feeling that she didn’t really have to ask him anything at all to know what he was there for. “I didn’t mean to end up here,” he said, more to himself than to anyone else.

“No one ever really does,” Mary responded, humming some tune that seemed just familiar enough to make Eddy pause. He couldn’t place it. A large, white cat meowed at him from behind the counter, and Mary rolled her eyes shooing it along. 

“Isn’t that a health code violation?” Eddy asked, watching the cat pick itself up and begin to make its way into the back room, completely unprompted. 

Mary glanced back at him, the corners of her mouth twitching. She raised a finger to her lips mirthfully. “I won’t tell if you don’t,” she whispered. 

Eddy found himself nodding. Sooner than he would have liked, the tea was ready. He accepted it with a smile and thanks, beginning to pull out his wallet. 

Mary stopped to consider him as he pulled out the money. “I don’t usually do readings for your kind, but I will give you this for free,” Mary looked him in the eye, and Eddy could feel himself begin to hold his breath. There was a long pause, during which Eddy’s stomach took the opportunity to tie itself into knots. Finally, Mary spoke, her tone almost chiding. “You know exactly what’s happening to your friend, don’t try and kid yourself any longer.” 

Eddy could feel his throat tighten. _ No, I really don’t think that I already know, I don’t want to think that I already know. _ “I don’t think that’s how palm reading works,” he heard himself say in response. “You didn’t even look at my palm.” 

Mary just gave him a smirk. “And who are you to tell me how to do my job?” She asked him quietly, not a hint of malice in her words. 

Eddy nodded, feeling the blood rushing in his ears. “Fair enough,” he responded, or at least, he hoped that he did.  _ What is this?  _

Mary just gave him a slightly more genuine smile in response. “Bring your friend by sometime,” she said, though not unkindly. “I think he would enjoy one of my readings.”

“How will I find you again?” he asked her. 

“The same way you did before, Eddy. You’ll know it when you try it.” 

The white cat meowed once more, drawing his attention. The bell above the door jingled, and Eddy was back in the middle of the sidewalk, his throat strangely tight and his heart strangely heavy. He clutched Brett’s bubble tea in his hand. 

Nodding to himself, Eddy turned, and began the long walk back in what he hoped was the direction that he had come from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, let's all give bubble tea a warm welcome, I'm amazed the fic has gone on this long enough without it.


	16. Technicalities

“Honey, I’m home,” Eddy called out, opening the door with his free hand and closing it behind him once he had stepped inside. 

Almost immediately he was hit with all the force that a faded angel in fuzzy socks can generate sliding across wooden floors. Brett collided with his stomach with a quiet  _ oof,  _ and Eddy grinned despite himself. “Hey there, sleepyhead.”  _ God, when did he get so soft sounding? _

Brett looked up at him with hopeful eyes. “Did you get the bubble tea?” He asked. 

Eddy rolled his eyes endearingly. “You mean, this bubble tea?” He held it up above Brett’s head, away from the smaller boy’s reaching fingers. 

Brett pouted. “Give it here!” He made another halfhearted jump for it, crossing his arms as Eddy raised onto tiptoes. “I swear, I will climb you like a tree.” 

That got a chuckle out of Eddy. “Now, is that really any way for you to be treating your bubble tea savior?”

“Dude, this isn’t funny!” Brett’s cheeks were flushed. “Give it to me!” 

“Give it to me… please?” Eddy tried, now unable to keep the grin off his face. 

Brett huffed, blowing a stray strand of hair out of his eyes. “Come on, dude.” 

“What was that?” Eddy said, thoroughly enjoying himself. “I can’t hear you.”

A louder sigh. Brett looked up at him. “Please?” he said quietly, and  _ wow _ did Brett look adorable when he did that. 

“Oh, why didn’t you just say so?” Eddy passed him the bubble tea, giving Brett a moment to do his best to inhale it before asking his next, slightly more pressing question. “How was everything while I was gone?” 

“Fine,” Brett managed between sips. “All good.”

“Do your wings still hurt?” 

“Only a little.” 

“Did you stretch them out at all or anything?” 

Brett looked guiltily past him, focusing instead on the wall across from them. It was peach colored, with a small painting of roses. He scratched the back of his head absentmindedly, focusing most of his effort into looking anywhere in the room that Eddy wasn’t. 

Eddy sighed. “Brett, we’ve discussed this.” 

“Have we? I can’t remember it ever coming up…” Brett sipped his bubble tea loudly. 

“You know for a fact that underuse of your wings can hurt just as much as overuse. You need to stretch them out or else they’ll get weak. I know you’re nervous about people seeing them, but It can’t hurt you to open them in here, where there is literally no one around but me.” Eddy chided him lightly. “And I’m pretty sure I already know that you have wings.” He didn’t want to sound too mean, and he had only mentioned this to Brett in passing, but still. The boy was two hundred years his elder, he should know this!

“But it hurts when I open them,” Brett said, barely more than a whisper. 

_ Oh, love.  _ Eddy could feel a heavy weight in his chest as he looked at Brett, putting himself in his shoes.  _ He’s just scared.  _ “Do you want me to take a look then?” he said quietly. “If you just stretch them a little I can make sure you’re all good and no more feathers have fallen out.” 

Brett nodded, slowly turning his back to Eddy. “I don’t want to look at them.” If he spoke any quieter, then Eddy might have assumed it was nothing more than the wind. He frowned, giving Brett ample time to shrug off his shirt and open up his wings. 

Eddy couldn’t help it, his hands flew to cover his mouth, muffling his small gasp. Brett’s wings were mangled, but that wasn’t new. What was new were the spreading blackened portions of feathers dotted amongst the white. It was no longer just the tips of Brett’s wings that looked blackened and almost burnt. Even as Eddy watched, Brett shook out his wings softly, completely unaware. 

  
Slowly, hesitantly, Eddy reached out to run his fingers through the closest part of Brett’s wing, but almost the moment his fingers touched the soft primaries, one of them sizzled.  _ Okay, that can’t be good.  _ Eddy watched it in confusion as the blackened portion of the feather expanded, looking almost as though paper was being burnt before his eyes.  _ Well this is new,  _ he thought eloquently, as he physically felt his blood pressure spike. 

“Brett?” he asked, very very quietly. “Are you feeling okay?” 

“Yeah, why?” He could almost feel the panic beginning to swell in Brett’s throat. “Is there a problem? Is something wrong? You aren’t touching my wings yet, why aren’t you touching my wings yet?”

“No, no, everything’s fine,” Eddy hummed quickly, awkwardly reaching out and nudging at the offending primary, before deeming it cool to the touch and beginning to run his fingers through the surrounding feathers as well. “Just checking in on you.” 

“Well,” Brett considered. “I am a bit cold.”

“Yeah,” Eddy said, his frown deepening. “You did mention that…” He trailed off, concern clouding his mind.

Eddy sat alone in the basement, doing his best to write a letter back to his boss. He would have done it much earlier, if not for Brett’s wings exploding. Since he was interrupted, however, the letter had just sat around collecting dust on their kitchen counter for a while. Eddy was currently doing his best not to appear rude, for any of multiple reasons. 

_ Fred, _

_ Thank you so much for the care package! I can let you know that I, for one, was immensely pleased by this one’s lack of cockroaches. More importantly though, Brett was also quite pleased. Brett, who’s still alive and kicking. So, I don’t quite know what information you got to lead you to believe that he had met an untimely demise at the hands of one of his higher ups (have I mentioned recently how much I like you?), but that information was incorrect.  _

_ However, I do have a question of sorts. Brett’s wings are covered in crumbling black patches, and huge chunks of his feathers have fallen out. I can’t figure out what it is for the life of me, and seeing as our wings are already black, I think I can rule out this being an issue that demons also experience.  _

_ Apart from that, he’s very cold and generally unhappy, though it occurs to me now that that last one might just be because he hates not knowing what’s happening to him. Anywho, I checked the Bible, Wikipedia, and I even got scammed into purchasing some ‘ancient texts’ in pdf form that really weren’t of any use whatsoever.  _ __   
_   
_ __ I’m not any kind of expert, so I figured maybe you could help me out, whether with some of your own infinite wisdom or by asking around the office. It would be pretty great if you could. 

_ Thanks a ton, _

_   
_ _ Eddy _

Eddy put his head in his hands. The one thing he didn’t want to be happening to Brett was seeming more likely by the day. Hopefully Fred would come through with an answer for him. Hopefully...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are too sweet to me, I can't even. 
> 
> (Comments and kudos make my frickin week <3)


	17. Calm Before the Storm

Fred was being difficult, or so Eddy assumed. He had yet to get a response from the demon, and his anxieties about Brett’s wings grew daily, spiraling rapidly out of control. Brett’s wings were almost completely blackened, and crunchy to the touch. Eddy imagined that if he bit down one one of them, for whatever reason, it would taste like charcoal. Why he was having visions of chomping down on Brett’s feathers, he wasn’t quite sure. 

  
Brett, for the most part, just didn’t want to admit that anything was wrong. He knew that his wings were blackening before his eyes, something that Gabriel had no doubt done, but he really didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t even look at them unless Eddy made him, and he shut down any kind of conversation pertaining to them almost immediately. 

Eddy could understand that, because it had taken him far too long to even think of accepting who he was when he had first fallen, especially when his wings had first sprouted. Even with Fred’s helpful powerpoint presentation, he still didn’t understand what was going on. For a while, he even believed that hell was meant to be his eternal punishment.  _ Looking back on it, I suppose that was the desired effect, though being sent to heaven would have been far worse… _

That was such a sad thought that Eddy frowned. His fingers were itching again, and he was filled with an almost nervous energy. Maybe Brett would feel like going somewhere with him. He needed something to distract him, and Brett always seemed to encompass his entire world when they were together, for better or for worse. 

“Hey, Brett,” he called out as he swung around the door frame to the living room, mindlessly catering to his love’s obsession. “Wanna go get bubble tea?” 

They made the executive decision that it was never too late to go get bubble tea.

Even as they walked, Brett was thinking about Gabriel. He just couldn’t seem to keep his mind distracted. Here he was, strolling through the chilled downtown streets, hand in hand with his demon, yet his brain refused to let go of his conversation, so many weeks before. 

Brett let his mind wander. He had just kidnapped Eddy when he had that first, half scary, half awkward conversation with Gabriel. 

_ “Hello, Brett.”  _

_ Whirling around, Brett was met with Gabriel’s blank eyed stare. He could feel his blood chill. Almost immediately, he stood up straighter, fixing his slightly rumpled attire and standing at attention. He did his best not to gulp too noticeably. “Gabriel,” he responded, voice shaking only slightly.  _

_ Gabriel’s smile was artificial. “Long time no see, Brett. What has it been now, fifty, sixty years?”  _

_ Brett nodded slowly. “Yes sir, but I’ve been sending nearly constant updates, just like you asked, sir.” Was he sweating? Oh gosh. This may have been the first time the archangel had actually spoken with him face to face in centuries _

_ “Yes, and we see those come in every now and then,” Gabriel responded. His sandy hair looked immaculate, even as a sharp gust of wind blew past the two of them. Brett wondered if it would be rude to sit down. He was feeling a little faint. “However, I am not here just to discuss reports with you. I do have places to be.”  _

_ “Of course, sir.” Brett waited for Gabriel to explain his presence. He tried to find the tempo of his heart rate, but that was an impractical exercise anyway, and he had never been the best at figuring out tempos on the spot.  _

_ “There’s been an attack,” Gabriel said, his gaze analytical.  _

_   
_ _ Brett could feel his stomach drop. “On heaven?” He asked quietly.  _

_ “No, a human has been killed. Admittedly, a sinner, however, he appeared to die in less than plausible circumstances.” Brett couldn’t read Gabriel’s face if he tried. “And while we wouldn’t usually particularly…” Gabriel gestured offhand, “care, this one caught our attention.”  _

_ “Oh?”  _

_ “Yes,” Gabriel mused. “The victim appeared to have been thrown against a wall using strength that only an angel could possess.”  _

_ “I-I don’t understand. I would never-” Lying is a sin, Brett thought guiltily, yet his mouth continued to move, almost against his own will. _

_ “Oh, I must have misspoken.” Gabriel’s smile was nothing more than a professional courtesy. “Strength that only an angel or a demon could possess.” He carried an air of satisfaction about him now, and Brett could feel his stomach drop. He had barely said anything at all, out of fear, yet he still felt that Gabriel had read him like an open book.  _

_ “So… you’re just warning me,” Brett clarified, “about the possibility of there being a demon working nearby.”  _

_ “Exactly!” Gabriel said, his false brightness almost sickening to look at. His smile stretched just a little bit too wide across his face, and Brett felt himself mimic it. There they stood, equally misleading, equally distrusting. “That’s all I’m doing here,” Gabriel said.  _

“Hey! Earth to Brett!” Eddy was snapping his fingers in front of his face. Brett blinked the last traces of the memory from his eyes, frowning at being pulled back into reality, despite the vast upgrade in company.    
  
“Sorry dude, sorry,” he muttered apologies half under his breath. 

“Are you doing okay, really?” Eddy asked him, softer now. “You’ve been kinda zoned out for a little bit.” 

Brett sighed. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ll keep you updated.” There was a moment of silence, during which Eddy joined him in his frowning. “I just feel bad. We’re in the middle of a date and I’m just lost in my own world” 

  
“No, no, don’t feel bad!” Eddy was quick to reassure him. “Trust me dude, you have nothing to apologize for. I feel bad, I wish I could help you more.” He gave him a small smile. “Hey, at least your hand feels a little less cold.” He lightly squeezed Brett’s palm.   
  
Brett just laughed a little bit, and stood on tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I don’t know where I’d be without you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry, I know this one's a little lackluster, and I slipped and missed a day. School's kinda swamped me recently, ngl. Anywho, hope you enjoyed.


	18. Déjà Vu

Though it took a while, they eventually made their way to some old bookstore, taking the time to wander here and there, to just relax and let their thoughts lie where they did. Eddy had been doing that quite a lot lately, not worrying about his destination and just letting fate decide where he ended up. It was relaxing, though Brett’s hands froze up again fairly quickly. By the time that they got to a store they wanted to enter, his fingers felt like ice against Eddy’s. 

Cheeks flushed red from the cold, they ducked inside the store’s low hanging entrance. Almost immediately, they were hit with a rush of warm air and the scent of cinnamon and cedar. Eddy frowned.  _ That seems familiar.  _

Some teenager sat behind the counter, half heartedly scrolling through something on their phone and looking generally engaged with the world around them, in that way that all teenagers did. He looked up at them when they entered. Eddy smiled at them as they made awkward eye contact.

“Ummm, the owner isn’t here on Tuesdays or Sundays, but feel free to look around. If you want to buy anything, I guess I’ll check you out or something.” The teenager nodded, breaking the eye contact and resuming whatever they were doing on their phone.   
  
_ Alright, that’s really just a ringing endorsement of this business.  _ “Thanks,” Eddy responded, not quite sure if he was really thankful. A couple of other customers were milling around the small shop, but no one was really doing much. 

“Why are we here?” Brett whispered, interlacing his fingers with Eddy’s and leaning his head on the taller boy’s upper arm. 

Eddy shrugged, doing his best not to completely displace Brett’s head. “Figured we would just relax, maybe browse a little bit. Maybe find some more books for your basement, I think I saw an empty square foot of wall space you still need to fill.” He grinned playfully. 

Brett could feel himself scoff in response, the sound of disdain turning into more of a giggle at the end. Having been around for much longer than his complexion insinuated, he had had quite a long time to collect as many books as he could feasibly fit in his house. As a result, books lined his basement from wall to wall. Eddy was mostly past the point of telling hoarder jokes, and he had accepted Brett for who he was long ago, someone who really just couldn’t let old memories go, but he still felt the need to tease him occasionally. 

“You know what, maybe I will find something to fill that space,” Brett fired back, before quieting slightly. “Or maybe you could just bring some of your own stuff,” he offered shyly. “You know, since it’s so small.” 

Eddy could feel the strange fuzzy feeling in his heart again. He knew it was stupid, but there was just something so touching about Brett wanting books from his life integrated into Brett’s life. There was just such a domestic feel to that gesture, as small as it was. 

“Yeah, I might be able to find something if I rustle through my own shelves for enough time,” he responded, nodding and squeezing Brett’s hand. This, in turn, made Brett grin. 

“We’re still going to browse around, right?” he said hopefully. 

“Whatever you want,” Eddy said, grinning at the almost goofy joy that came across Brett’s face when he heard those words. And so he let the shorter boy lead him around the store, looking at some of the slightly older books first, as well as a couple of comparatively newer ones. 

The lighting was dim, with a slight yellowish tinge, and one of the bulbs in the corner flickered every so often, but the story had a homely feel. It was almost as though they had stepped into the past, Eddy didn’t think he saw a single book that was published after 1994.    
  
Brett was thrilled. He was thoroughly entranced by the comely store, and Eddy was able to get some mental notes for Christmas gifts. They stayed for quite some time, as long as Brett wanted. If you had asked, neither one of them would have been able to tell you just how long the two of them stayed in the shop. 

Eddy would have no problem, however, describing the way Brett’s smile glittered in the low light, or perhaps the way his eyes lit up as he found something of interest to him. He could recall the low baritone of Brett’s voice quite easily, exactly how it sounded when whispered close to his ear. The phantom touch of Brett’s cool fingers still lingered on his own, and he would be hard pressed to forget exactly how the smaller boy’s lips felt against his own.

As lovely as his earlier outing was, Eddy’s later outing was turning out to be nowhere near as quaint. 

Eddy hated his work. It was dirty, it was grimy, and it really was just not his style. Needless to say, he had to do it. Well, he didn’t have to do it. Hell would fire him if he didn’t though. On second thought, they really wouldn’t. You can’t get fired from being a demon. Fred would just be really disappointed in him if he didn’t. That was a lie. Fred didn’t give a rat’s ass what he did.  _ I wonder if you can fire angels...  _

Eddy really didn’t know why he kept working when he hated it so much. It was time consuming, it was really yucky, on occasion, and he was not going to lie, it was kind of upsetting. He didn’t get paid for doing it, they just kind of told him ‘Hey, welcome to hell, loser, hope you’re ready to start killing sinners!’. His thoughts were drawn back to his boss, and his pastel green apron.  _ Even Fred needs a job topside, to pay the bills.  _ Still, maybe it had something to do with his demonic instincts, but Eddy just never felt as alert as when he was out hunting. Whatever. Bottom line, Eddy hated his job. 

Maybe even if they screamed a little less it would help with his squeamishness. Eddy had just finished decapitating the man in front of him when he heard the voice, quiet yet not timid.    
  
“Eddy Chen.” 

  
_ Ah yes,  _ thought Eddy with a sigh,  _ our returning motif of a sinister voice in an alleyway.  _


	19. Birdie

The woman was short, with dark black hair and strikingly blue eyes. She seemingly also donned a petticoat, something quite peculiar for anyone who lived in this era. Eddy was instantly on guard.  _ Which one is it, angel or demon? _

“That’s me.” 

The woman wrinkled her nose in disdain. “Eddy Chen, my name is Cassiel. I’m here tonight strictly on business.” There was a pause. “We’ll be needing you in heaven.” 

_ Alright, angel it is.  _ That sent a shiver down Eddy’s spine. “Why?” he challenged, looking the angel up and down. His eyes shifted slowly from their usual dark coloring to a far lighter red. 

“There’s no need for that.” The words were soft spoken, though Eddy could suddenly see the angel’s wings, highlighted by the moonlight. They were not so long as Brett’s, though they were certainly healthier. The stark white feathers rustled in the passing breeze, and Eddy knew without a second thought that if he tried to fight the angel, he would be kissing the pavement in mere seconds. 

“Fine,” Eddy relinquished, gritting his teeth and relaxing only slightly.  _ Back down while you still can.  _ “But I deserve to know why I need to go up there.”

“You don’t deserve to know anything.” The angel’s words were biting, and she frowned at him. “But I am not so uptight as some of my superiors, so I will indulge you.” 

“Aren’t you generous,” Eddy muttered.  _ Watch your tongue.  _

The angel crossed her arms. “You have been requested for questioning.” 

Eddy wrinkled his nose. He wondered how Brett was feeling. Hopefully he was doing okay. “Not really my style. What for?”  _ Careful now, you don’t want to upset her any more than you already have. _

“You’re being awfully unreceptive. I don’t have to tell you any of this, I could just knock you out and-” 

“Drag my ass to heaven?” Eddy finished for her, smirking slightly now despite himself.  _ Eddy what the actual hell?  _ Yet his mouth continued to run as though it had a mind of its own. “Do all angels talk such big game as you and Brett, yet refuse to actually follow through on any of their threats, or is that just a minor angel thing? Cause that’s the sense I’m getting here.” 

Cassiel scowled. 

Eddy just grinned in response. “You should relax a little more, maybe have a beer. Might take a bit of the edge off.”  _ Dude, seriously.  _

“I don’t drink,” she responded flatly. “You need to come with me.” 

“What’s the magic word?” Eddy all but sing-songed. 

This wasn’t the first mistake he made during this conversation, but it was that playful, teasing tone that sent Cassiel over the edge. The angel narrowed her eyes, and, leaning forward slightly, eyes glinting golden in the moonlight, whispered out one word. “Sleep.” 

Eddy, feeling his eyelids sag, internally began to curse himself. He got about as far as  _ Shit shit shit dude, you always try and act cool and it literally never works, why would you-  _ before unconsciousness overtook him.    
  
When Eddy next awoke, it was unnaturally bright. 

Brett was trying to practice. It had been far too long since he had even attempted to pick up his instrument, and while his playing was certainly suffering from it, that wasn’t even the worst part. It just made him so sad, to have not played for so long. He had missed this, the feeling of his fingers flying over the strings, the cool wood of the violin scroll as he turned the pegs, even the solid weight of the instrument just pressed against the curve of his neck. 

Everything was just as before, perfectly in order. However, he probably would have been having a bit more success with his practice if his neighbors weren’t having possibly the loudest party known to mankind. The speakers were loud, the screaming was louder, and Brett was pretty sure he had heard fireworks go off on more than one occasion. 

It took him too long to call it quits, but finally, the noise got to him. Grumbling something about humans and partying and practice schedules, Brett packed his violin away again, making a mental promise to really practice tomorrow to make up for lost time. He missed the old days sometimes, when he could play and play and not have to worry if he would actually be able to hear himself think.

He used to pick up his instrument and just not put it down again. Sometimes, his practice sessions would last days or even weeks. Brett sighed, making his way into the kitchen as the music got louder. Maybe Eddy left something out that he could eat. 

He smiled when he saw the plastic container of biscuits on the counter. Eddy was by no means a cook, however the demon did know how to break apart a container of pre made dough and put it in the oven for fifteen to twenty minutes. 

  
Brett cracked open the container and took one of them out, beginning to nibble on it, not even bothering to heat it up. Not that it being cold made much of a difference to him. He was always cold these days, he was cold and he was tired, and he wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep for weeks. 

Looking around his open kitchen, Brett could see that Eddy had also cleaned up as best he could. He had cleaned the dishes and dusted the counters, from what Brett could tell. Brett took a moment to smile on the thought of Eddy cleaning up their kitchen, all domestic.  _ When had it become their kitchen?  _

Brett was enjoying his second biscuit when he heard the noise. Nothing more than a little  _ tap tap,  _ the sound of something clicking against glass. How he heard it over the racquet from next door, he couldn’t tell you. Brow furrowing slightly in confusion, Brett stood up, walking slowly to the window. 

Despite craning his neck, he couldn’t seem to find anything that could make that noise, not even a tree branch knocking against the house in the wind. Yet that mysterious tapping noise continued on, almost silent, yet so constant. He moved to the next window, this one above the sink. Leaning forward to look closer, Brett suddenly came face to face with a large, black crow. 

“Ah!” he jumped back as the crow came into his field of vision. The crow cocked its head, letting out a muffled  _ squawk _ . 

Brett felt himself chuckle.  _ If only heaven could see me now,  _ he thought, moving to look closer at the crow. “Hey there little buddy,” he said, grinning. “Are you lost?” 

  
_ Squawk.  _ There it was again, sound muffled slightly by the glass. And that was the moment that Brett noticed the tiny, ribbon bound message tied to the raven’s foot.    
  
“Hey there little guy…” he said again, slower now, more curious. “Do you wanna come inside?” 


	20. Drift Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, it's been far too long!! I'm so sorry guys, I've been so busy packing for London, and then I'll be there for a week, and I probably won't be able to get chapters up often while I'm there either! D: I'll do my best to get one or two up though, I promise.

“I deserve to know why I’m here,” Eddy repeated himself, arms crossed. The angels in front of him were, unsurprisingly, unmoved. Eddy frowned.  _ Brett was far too intimidated by me, he gave me such a faulty sense of how angels operate,  _ he thought, though not unkindly.  _ Clearly, not all of his kind are so providing.  _ He had been asking why he was to be questioned for hours, as best he could guess. Time seemed to pass differently here, same as in hell. 

“Should I make him sleep again?” One whispered to the other. “Or maybe I could pull a couple of fingernails at least, that might make him shut up!”

The other just shook his head, sighing. “They just told us to watch him, Uriel, not torture him.” 

Eddy frowned. That was interesting, but the angel on the left looked far too excited at the prospect that they may be able to injure him. Perhaps there was some merit after all, to the terrible stories others had told him about the wrath of angels.

“You’re no fun, Balthazar!” 

“Why am I here?” Eddy asked again, quieter. He cast his gaze downward submissively, away from the angels watching him. They were taller than Brett, for one, which made them scarier. They also kept their wings out, though it appeared that you were unable to hide them in heaven. Eddy’s blackened wings were on display as well, and while he was not displeased with their state of care, simply being here made him feel inferior and ashamed. Somehow, he assumed that was the effect they were going for. 

Wings were made from power, pure or tainted, and while not often tangible unless the bearer chose them to be so, Eddy found that he could not put his away, or let them fade into his very being as he so often did. His blood ran cold. To take that choice from him was nothing more than a cheap intimidation tactic, an unspoken  _ fuck you  _ from heaven. He had begun to understand why Brett seemed to hate it up here so much.

The one angel rolled his eyes. “To see the archangels, obviously. They want to question you.” 

“About what?” Eddy responded, almost desperately. 

The one, Balthazar, shrugged, curling his lip as he looked down at him in disgust. Eddy didn’t dare ask any more questions.

\-----

Brett closed the window after the bird, watching with certain fascination as it stuck out it’s leg obediently, the note dangling from a string. He grabbed it as carefully as he could, untying it with cautious fingers, though the creature didn’t snap at him.  _ It must be for Eddy,  _ he thought, connecting the dots.  _ I know he was nervous about hearing back from Fred.  _   
  
The bird let out a small croaking noise.  _ Maybe I should open it,  _ Brett thought in a strange fit of curiosity.  _ I know Eddy told me not to worry about it, but it kind of makes me wonder what made him so nervous in the first place.  _ It was far from a good idea, Brett knew that, but he was bored, and Eddy hadn’t been back for hours. Besides, it’s not like he would be doing anything devious with the contained information, he just wanted to know what it was about. He felt left out. Sue him. 

Brett’s mind continued to justify the situation for him, and he cracked open the seal before he could change his mind. 

The letter felt odd in his hands, thick and slightly weighty. The parchment was crackled and old, the edges crumbling a little, even as he ran his fingers over them. The scent was familiar as well, but Brett couldn’t quite place it. Some kind of spice. Curiosity consuming him, Brett opened the letter. His eyes flicked to the first line, only getting wider and wider as he continued to read. 

The letter was brief, in a chilled way that seemed almost too cold for business. Brett couldn’t imagine Fred writing anything like this. 

_ Eddy,  _

_ Stop kidding yourself, it’s gone on too long.  _

Brett paused. That was an odd way to start a letter. Furrowing his brow, he let his gaze drop back to the slightly crumpled paper. 

_ You know what’s happening, and while it sucks, it’s not the end of the world. He’s probably going to be dependant on you for a little while though, so don’t worry about losing him. I mean, sure, he might get a little mentally shaken up about it, but that only makes sense, with the way they conditioned him.  _

If Brett had been Eddy, he would have realized that the letter before him was not written in Fred’s usual, calligraphic scrawl. Instead, the letters had an odd slant to them, the quill having been pressed just a feather too light to the paper. Unfortunately, Brett was not Eddy, and he didn’t realize this slight oddity. 

_ Good news is, we have a job all ready for him down here. He’ll fit right in, I can see no issues whatsoever with the adjustment. It’ll be cake, to get him to come to terms with working for hell.  _ __   
__   
There was a small gap in the middle of the paragraph. 

_ (That was a joke. Sorry, not my best.) Anyway, he’ll be accepted here, most likely. I know the whole situation will probably cause him more grief than is necessary if you introduce him to everyone too soon, but hopefully you can find a good time, when he feels comfortable in his own skin again.  _

_ I also hope that you find a good time to talk this through with him. After all, it’s not every day that you turn into a demon.  _

That was it. Brett’s breath got caught on the way from his throat, as it seemingly tightened around nothing at all. His heartbeat was picking up, pounding in his ears, the white noise crescendoing even as his eyes flew across the last of the words inked on the letter. 

_ I just hope the horns haven’t shown up yet.  _

_ Good luck, _

_ Fred _

Brett couldn’t think. He felt his wings tingling on his back, nothing more than numb weight. Eddy knew what was happening to him. Eddy had known, he had known the entire time and he didn’t tell him. 

Ultimately, it didn’t matter what Brett had wanted to hear, because now, despite all the measures he’d gone to avoid the topic, here it was again. It was consuming him, consuming his life. In the end, it didn’t matter how much he had tried to deny it, he was becoming the thing he had strived so hard to avoid becoming, the one thing everyone had told him was evil,  _ worse than death itself. _ Michael’s words came echoing back to him. 

And so Brett sat there, eyes brimming with tears, and he tried not to drift away.


	21. Liar, Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uhh just a heads up the angels are really not nice to Brett and Eddy in this chapter, whether it be manipulation or just violence. You have been warned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is literally the worst chapter ever I have no words to describe how much I hate it but I just have to move on so I can get to the part that I have fleshed out.

Eddy gritted his teeth, cracked his neck, and strained to pull himself just a bit farther from the archangels. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I’m not the reason Brett fell,” he managed to get out, blood dripping rhythmically from his cracked lip. 

“And I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, we know you’re lying to us.” The archangel Gabriel said this through equally gritted teeth. “Tell is how you conned him into falling.”

“I didn’t do anything to him!” Eddy responded angrily. “You’re closer to the reason that he fell than I am.”

Gabriel shook his head, waving his arm absentmindedly in Uriel’s direction, who reached for Eddy’s throat again. “He did that to himself, from the moment he let your silver tongue influence his holy actions. Brett was a weak angel, but nevertheless, he was a loyal one. Only such a force as a demon could have caused his fall from grace and perfection.” 

_ I literally can’t even with this dude right now.  _ Eddy groaned as Uriel’s fingers tightened over his windpipe again, the constricting feeling making him lightheaded. “He had already killed the man when I got there,” Eddy choked out. 

Gabriel paused at that. There was a long moment of silence, during which a couple of the lower angels moved to whisper in one another’s ears, and the higher ups glanced from one another in confusion. “You’re lying,” Gabriel finally said, decisively. “That’s what demons do, they lie.” 

“Fine,” Eddy spat out, coughing up some blood. “Then I’m lying. What do you care? I’m nothing to you, kill me and be done with it!” 

Gabriel’s eye twitched. “You’ve got a mouth on you, demon. Tell me, did Brett ever fight back when you mouthed off, or did he just take it? Did he just let you boss him around, like a coward?”

Eddy could feel his nose scrunch up in disgust. “We talk things out like normal people, he doesn’t just take orders like he has to do from you assholes.”

“He should be above associating with someone of your… status, let alone allowing them to turn him. You must have bewitched him somehow. How did you do it?” Gabriel just responded, tone measured even as his hands curled into fists. 

Eddy looked the archangel straight in the eye, and spat out a glob of blood. “Fuck you,” he hissed out through gritted teeth. 

Gabriel sighed disdainfully. One of the other archangels cleared his throat, moving cautiously forward to speak quietly in his ear. After a moment of nearly silent back and forth, the archangel nodded, and stepped back. Gabriel turned his attention back to Eddy, who had been using this time mostly for struggling to breathe. 

“We’re not getting anywhere with you,” he directed in Eddy’s direction. “So I think we’ll have to bring in a second opinion.” 

Though his sentence was ambiguous, Eddy knew exactly what was happening before Gabriel even had time to finish his sentence. “No, no, no,” he started to say, shaking his head, “Wait-!”

Gabriel smoked cruely at him and snapped his fingers. A puff of black rose up in the middle of the big room, smokey and almost completely opaque. When it cleared, Brett was there, still stumbling from the sudden yanking feeling in his stomach. 

Eddy felt his heart crumple in on itself as he looked at him. Brett’s face was streaked with tears, and his eyes were rubbed red from crying. His wings, now yanked roughly into existence, were blackened and burnt, and looked more like charcoal than anything else remotely distinguishable at this point. 

“Brett,” he whispered into the open air. 

Uriel hissed loudly, a warning. “Don’t speak to him. Turn around.” 

“What?” Eddy’s voice cracked slightly. His eyes drank Brett in, struggling to make eye contact with the boy who refused to meet his gaze. 

“Turn. Around.” Uriel’s tone left no room for argument, and, with another prod from one of the other angels, Eddy turned his back to Brett. He bit his lip. 

The archangel’s questioning began, distain flooding his words. 

“Did you, Brett Yang, or did you not, affiliate yourself with this scum willingly?” 

There was a long pause, during which Eddy was mostly sure that Brett was trying to figure out this entire conversation, as well as what he was doing back here. 

“Yes.” Brett’s answer was so quiet that Eddy had to strain his ears to hear it.    
  
“And did you, or did you not, engage in a relationship with this… demon?”  _ Shit.  _

There was a crack in Brett’s voice as he responded. “I did.” 

Eddy tried to turn to face Brett, but found that he couldn’t. “Brett, why would you say that?” He asked, accusatory and far too loud. 

“Hey,” one of the angels warned, shoving his shoulder. Eddy reluctantly turned back to face the wall, more out of shock than anything else. Brett was expressionless, appearing almost numb. 

Gabriel, for what it’s worth sounded equally shocked that he had gotten an answer out of Brett so quickly, and with so little prodding. “I expected more of a fight from you, cherub. Surely you don’t think that telling us the truth will save your skin,” he said, and Eddy didn’t have to turn around to know there was a smirk on his face. 

“I don’t.” 

“You don’t think it will save your poor little boyfriend either, right?” Gabriel seemed almost delighted. 

“Of course not.” 

Why was Brett’s tone so… resentful?

Gabriel was practically purring. “I see. A lover’s quarrel, eh?” He walked slowly around to face Eddy. “Well, they say hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn, but clearly they’ve never seen an angel’s.”

  
Eddy just bared his teeth at him. 

Gabriel chuckled. “Cute.”

“Why am I here?” Brett sounded tired. Eddy would want to swaddle him in blankets and comfort him, if he wasn’t so confused and hurt right now. 

“Why, you’re here to prove that your little boyfriend over there in the corner is lying to us, Brett, and then we’ll let you go home, okay?” Gabriel turned to the other angels and laughed. “It’s not like you can do anything that would actually  _ hurt  _ us, anyway.” 

“Oh.” 

That was all that Brett said.

“How did the demon seduce you?” Gabriel asked him, tone suddenly sickeningly sweet. “How did he force you from grace? You can tell us, you can trust us. You’ve always been able to trust us, Brett,” he crooned. 

Eddy couldn’t see him, but he could picture the look on Brett’s face, the little way that he nodded right before answering. “I can go home after this... “ the former angel said, wings curling in closer to his body as the archangel approached him. He sounded desperate, almost like he could convince himself by saying those words. “Yes. It all started when I encountered him in a pitch black alleyway in the middle of the night.”

Eddy winced, closing his eyes and listening as the lies that Brett spun began to choke the life from him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will probably be slightly less frequent updates from this point out, until I get momentum back up to one a day, so you guys might have to wait a couple of days between chapters now, sorry. :(


	22. Isolation

Brett had left hours ago, the angels snickering as they parted and showed him the door. As he passed Gabriel by, the archangel had actually reached out with two fingers and tweaked at one of Brett’s charred wings, causing the former angel to let out a sharp hiss of pain and recoil from the touch. Despite the whirling turmoil that were his current feelings for Brett, it had taken everything in himself to stop just short from throwing himself at the older archangel. 

He watched Brett’s retreating form, his shoulders slumped and head held low. 

Eddy wasn’t sure if he was going to return, and that thought scared him more than anything had in a long while.

It had been so long. Or maybe it hadn’t been very long at all. Eddy wouldn’t have been able to tell you either way. All he knew was that his entire body ached all over, and that he was completely, utterly alone. No one had come to feed him, but he wasn’t really hungry. So that at least was okay. 

It was ages before he even saw another moving creature. Hearing the authoritative clicking of heavy boots, Eddy looked up to make eye contact with an angel he had never seen before. Very slowly, he moved to stand on shaky feet. He could feel the cool wall behind him, and he pushed his full weight against it. 

The angel’s eyes were calculating, and she chewed on her lip even as she looked at him. “You look depressing. Surely you can’t be the one that caused so much ruckus around here?”

“That’s me.” Eddy flashed a wary peace sign at her. 

She just smirked. “The other archangels have decided your fate.” 

“Good to know.” Eddy couldn’t physically move any further away from the angel, who he looked over once more. Something about her just didn’t seem right, something about her eyes… 

Then it clicked, the few puzzle pieces laid out in front of him connecting, everything about her making sense. 

“Well, don’t you want to know what we’ve decided?” Raphael spread her wings lazily, her golden eyes locked onto Eddy’s red tinted ones. However, it was uncertain whether the red tint was from his demonic nature or just crying and lack of sleep. 

“Not really,” Eddy replied truthfully.

Raphael just chuckled. “Well, you might know the saying ‘If you can’t beat them, join them’?”

Eddy nodded slowly.

She smiled at him. “Then even you should understand what’s about to happen. That’s basically all there is too it.” And then she started walking towards him, her hands glowing with that same deadly golden hue. 

Eddy began to shake his head, but it was already too late.

\-----

Brett was mad. He was tired, his wings were throbbing almost painfully now, and he had never felt so emotionally bruised in his life. All those hundreds of years serving under the archangels, and all it took was a couple of months with Eddy Chen to shatter his whole world and make his life fall to pieces. 

A formless scream ripped past his lips. His left hand shot out, the impact against the wall seeming to shake the very foundation of his house. When he removed his hand, cracks spiderwebbed through the cream colored wallpaper. 

Shaking it off, Brett let out his wings and stalked over to the kitchen, making himself something. He wasn’t really sure what he wanted, but he knew he was hungry. His wings continued to throb rhythmically, the bases of them beginning to itch slightly. 

His window was open. He could see a raven peered into the kitchen at him from its perch on his windowsill. That was odd, Brett didn’t remember leaving any windows open. Then again, he was whisked off suddenly against his will, as though he were nothing more than a simple puppet. 

Thoughts like that made him angry again, and Brett gritted his teeth. “Don’t look at me like that!” He snapped irrationally at the raven and its judgemental gaze. “I didn’t ask for this!” 

The bird said nothing. 

“I mean sure, I had a stupid ‘holier than thou’ auttitude when I met Eddy, but it’s not like being a little haughty should have a punishment this severe.” There was a long pause. “But he was just so nice to me… and I had kidnapped him, for Christ’s sake!” Brett was so worked up he didn’t even realize he let that slip past his lips. “It’s not like I asked to fall in love with the guy or anything!” 

He stared at the raven. It stared back. 

To fill the silence, Brett continued, all but hissing. “And when he waltzed into my life with that stupid smile and that stupid happy-go-lucky auttitude, of course I was going to fall for him! He was the only thing that had treated me with kindness and love in four hundred years, it just made sense. I didn’t even deserve his kindness either.” Brett slid down the wall opposite the window, the corners of his eyes pricking with tears. “I just didn’t expect to fall for him… because of him.” 

The bird sat there, unimpressed. 

“But screw him!” Brett groaned. “I was- I’m an angel, and he’s a demon, and we’re from two worlds that never should have collided. Bad things happen when our worlds collide.” 

Case in point, the raven’s eyes seemed to say. It ruffled its feathers. 

“And he kept things from me anyway,” Brett whispered, even quieter than before. “He hid what was happening from me, reported it to his boss, waiting until I was too fragile to put up any kind of a fight. He left me scared and alone and completely in the dark. I thought I could trust him, I threw away my faith for him, and this is what he gave me in return.”

There was a long pause. 

“Don’t worry about losing him, the letter said. He’ll be dependant on you.” Brett bit his lip, tasting a slight metallic tang. “It’ll be cake, getting him to come to terms with working in hell.” 

There was a screech from his window, and Brett looked up, making eye contact with the raven again. 

“Was he just using me this whole time?” He whispered into the open air. 

No one answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter! It's not perfect by any means, but it's starting to go in the direction it needs to, so that's good.


	23. I Walk A Lonely Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, it's been a while. I'm really sorry about that, these last few weeks have been rough, and I haven't had much inspiration. Hope you enjoy the chapter at least.
> 
> I like to call this, "I can't solve the problems in my own relationship, but I'll damn well make my fictional characters solve theirs."

Eddy walked numbly down the road, eyes trained on the pavement, movements sluggish and tired. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew for sure he wasn’t going back to Brett. 

He could have walked for days, months, he wouldn’t have known. Time hadn’t meant much to him in the first place but now it seemed as trivial as choosing an outfit to wear that day. He could still feel their fingers all over him, touching him, caressing him, burning him. Even thinking back to it, he shuddered, clutching himself feebly in his own arms.

It wasn’t until he made it to the quaint little shop next to nothing and on the edge of nowhere that he figured out where he was. Pushing open the door to Bubble Trouble, Eddy winced at the cheerful chime of the bell.

At this noise, the same large white cat as before walked around the bend, a deep rumble of a purr in the back of its throat. Eddy squatted down before he knew what he was doing, and held out his hand. The cat sniffed him for only a moment before smashing its forehead against his palm. Eddy took the time to notice the small black patch on one of its ears. The cat’s eyes were two different colors. 

“Well well well…”    
  
Eddy looked up and made eye contact with Mary, standing behind the counter, arms crossed. He was sure she wasn’t standing there just a moment prior, yet she didn’t look out of breath. He stood up. 

“Mary,” he said, smiling a little awkwardly. It didn’t reach his eyes. “Long time no see.”

“Eddy Chen,” Mary started, and some little voice in the back of Eddy’s head asked him how she knew his last name, “I could smack you.” Mary shook her head, gesturing to the seat in front of her. “Sit down.” 

Eddy made his way to the front of the store quickly and sat. Mary wordlessly slid a bubble tea to him, and while he fumbled for his wallet, she simply waved him off. “It’s on the house.” 

“Thanks,” Eddy said, barely more than a whisper under his breath. 

“Now,” Mary ordered, “Talk.” 

Eddy opened his mouth tentatively, and closed it again. “What about?” He asked softly. 

“Bullshit.” Mary frowned at him, voice raising in volume as her brow furrowed deeper and deeper. “You know exactly what happened, and it’s pretty much the opposite of what you should have done! How did you manage to screw that up so badly, huh? You were supposed to bring him to see me, not up there!” She jerked her thumb at the ceiling, making a face as she did so. 

Eddy blinked, processing this. “You… you know about-?” he trailed off, simply flicking his eyes up briefly at the wooden ceiling. 

Mary rolled her eyes. “Of course I do! God, you kind of have that air around you now. If I didn’t know any better I would say you were an angel yourself.” 

Eddy felt his stomach sink. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” he whispered. 

Something clicked in Mary’s head, and her eyes grew sympathetic. “Oh honey, no,” she said. There was a very long pause, and she sighed. “Sorry.” 

Eddy just nodded and took a longer sip of his bubble tea.  _ I’ll unwrap that later.  _ There was only so much he could handle at any given time. 

“Does Fred know?”

Eddy jerked his head up. “You know Fred?” he asked cautiously.

  
Mary smiled fondly at that, chuckling a little bit. “Everyone knows Fred.” 

Eddy nodded. That checked out. “No, he doesn’t know,” he responded. 

  
There was a lull in the conversation, and Eddy could start to feel his thoughts close in on him. The large white cat with the black ear was purring loudly, rubbing up against and between his legs. 

“Tell me what happened with Brett,” Mary said quietly, allowing the conversation’s tone to become more somber, making this feel like a little bit less of a lecture. 

“I don’t know,” Eddy said cautiously, voice breaking on the last syllable. “I just… they called me up there to answer for Brett falling, even though I had no part of that at all, and when I wouldn’t tell them ‘the truth,’ they called Brett up, and he was just filled with so much hate and rage, and he told them everything, and they wouldn’t let him look at me, and I was so confused, and then he told Gab- the archangel and all the others these  _ lies  _ about me and then he just up and left and-” Eddy stopped, alarmed. He reached up tentatively to touch the pads of his fingers against the side of his face. They came away wet and slightly salty.

Mary gave him a bittersweet smile, pulling a handkerchief out of her pocket and passing it to Eddy, who accepted it gratefully. It had a little spiderweb engraved in the corner. “Did you follow my advice at least?” she asked him, when he was finished wiping his eyes. 

“What advice?” Eddy asked her. 

“You know, from the letter,” Mary responded, giving him a funny look. 

Eddy shook his head, returning her funny look. “I never got any letter.” 

Mary bit her lip, before a strange look crossed her face. “I think I know what happened.” she said, even quieter than before. 

Eddy opened his mouth to respond, but his question was interrupted by the dinging of the bell on the door. Both he and Mary looked up as the door closed, making direct eye contact with the man who had just stepped inside the shop to join them. Eddy’s heart dropped as he looked at Brett, looking like a deer in headlights. 

_ Shit.  _

“But..” Mary continued slowly, “I think it would be better if you just figured it out by talking it out with him.” A small smile was tugging at the corners of her lips, and she raised her voice just slightly. “Welcome to Bubble Trouble, Brett Yang.” 


	24. I Love You and I’m Sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back and posting from mobile after my finals. Enjoy!

“I- I should go.” Brett’s left hand made vague grabbing motions behind him, searching for the door knob. Eddy felt frozen in place. Finally, Brett’s fingers caught on the handle, and he went to push the door open again. And then he pushed again. And again. 

The handle wasn’t budging. 

Turning back to Eddy and Mary, Brett asked in a weak, defeated voice, “Does it stick sometimes, or...?”

“Neither of you are leaving until you  _ sort this out, _ ” Mary said, crossing her arms. “Sit down.” 

Brett looked at her like she had two heads. “Are you ordering me around?” 

“Yes.” Mary gave him a look almost as sharp as her nails. 

Brett’s chest puffed out slightly. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he warned. Eddy flinched.  _ Please Brett, I really don’t want to see this bubble tea employee get obliterated. _ The smell of cinnamon and cedar filled Eddy’s nose.

“Then I guess it’s a good thing that you’re not me,” Mary responded, tone dangerous. “Sit.” When Eddy looked at her, her eyes were a startling, crackling blue. 

“What are you?” Brett whispered, at the same time that he exclaimed, “You’re a witch!” 

From somewhere in the shop, the big white cat let out a strangled sort of  _ meow. _

Eddy smiled at Mary. _ Of course, how didn’t I see that? _ Witches, while not common, often worked in tandem with demons. Unlike demons, however, witches weren’t damned to hell. 

There were really only two ways to become a witch. The first option would be to figure out something that no human should really figure out until they’re dead. Every couple hundred years, a new person would stumble across a molted angel’s feather or something of the like, and would push their limits just a bit too far and try and figure out where exactly it came from. The results, however, never failed to amuse. 

The only other way to become a witch was to devote yourself to God, and then commit a big, unfixable sin. In simpler terms, the way Fred described it to Eddy: if a nun fucked up badly enough, then she would become a witch. 

Brett, however, didn’t look nearly as thrilled as Eddy to find out that Mary was a witch. Eddy ignored the look on his face and nodded knowingly. “Well, house rules, Brett. You invited yourself in, sit down.” He winced slightly at how harsh his voice sounded, even to his own ears. 

Brett walked slowly up to the two of them, biting his lip as he sat down, keeping an empty chair between Eddy and himself. Fair enough. 

“Now, you two need to have a nice, civil chat.” Mary said, glaring at the both of them. “Alone.” And with that last sentiment, she got up and left. 

Eddy turned back to face Brett. The former angel wasn’t making eye contact, but rather, his gaze was focused firmly on the floor in front of him. Eddy cleared his throat. 

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Brett muttered softly. 

And that was when Eddy had it.  _ Oh, screw it.  _ “You know what, if anyone should not want to talk right now, it should be me!” he exclaimed. Brett poked his head up at the outburst. “I got kidnapped, not just by you, but also by heaven! They dragged me up there, basically tortured me, and then when you came in, you practically killed me by lying your ass off about everything I did to you.” Eddy hissed that part out as controlled as he could muster, but that didn’t stop Brett from flinching. 

“I-” 

“Oh no you don’t,” Eddy growled, interrupting him. “And then, they locked me up again, Brett. Alone! Do you know how hard that was? I couldn’t tell if it had been days or months or only hours. And when someone did come for me…” Eddy trailed off, laughing darkly and leaning forward a little bit more. “Let’s just say I preferred it when I was being left alone.”

Guilt flashed in Brett’s eyes. There was a moment of silence, and all their unsaid words seemed to dangle in the air around them. If Eddy tried, he bet that he could grab one right off it’s invisible tether. Finally, Brett spoke. “What about the letter?”

“What letter?” Eddy snapped, before calming himself slightly. It wouldn’t be until later that he would realize his eyes were flashing a dangerous ruby red.

“The one Fred sent you,” Brett responded. 

Eddy cocked his head, curiosity overpowering his anger for a moment. “You mean about the lasagna?” he asked. “I wouldn’t have made you eat it.” 

“No no no, about the-” Brett stopped for a moment, rummaging through his jacket’s pocket. “About me  _ adjusting. _ ”

Eddy shook his head. “I never got any letter…” the words died in his throat as Brett handed the slightly crumpled piece of paper to him. He paused a moment, brow furrowing as he scanned the sheet. Finally, he looked back up at Brett. “Fred didn’t write this,” he said softly. 

“W-what do you mean?” Eddy could practically hear Brett’s heart beating, even from two stools down. It was clear the ex-angel’s mind was racing, trying to make sense of the situation. 

  
“I  _ mean _ , if someone wrote this, it wasn’t Fred. This isn’t how he writes at all,” Eddy said, examining the letter closer. “The parchment is different too.”

“Well it has to have been him, it’s signed by him and everything!” Brett said, now matching the confused look on Eddy’s face perfectly. 

Eddy snorted. “No way, Fred’s signature is way more loopy. Trust me, I’ve been receiving letters from him for four hundred years.” 

“Well does he have a secretary?” Brett asked. 

“No, he hasn’t had one for quite some time,” Eddy said. “I just don’t know how this person knew so much about what was going on with us…” 

“Have you ever considered the fact,” Mary’s voice came from the back of the store as she stepped into view, tentative, “that he might have trusted someone enough to talk to them about everything you two are going through?”

Brett shot a glance at Eddy, already beginning to ask the question.    
  
Eddy was already answering him, a perplexed look on his face. “I’m not sure… maybe-”

Mary interrupted him. “And have you considered the fact that perhaps, just perhaps, that letter wasn’t intended to be read out of context?” 

Brett flushed slightly. Eddy’s eyes widened as his mind made some connection that Brett’s had yet to make. 

“I may have overreacted,” Brett murmured. “Mary’s right. I’m sorry Eddy. I’m so, so sorry. I know you might not forgive me, and that’s perfectly reasonable, but I just want you to know that-” 

Whatever Brett might have said next was muffled and ultimately squashed by Eddy flying at him, over the stool in between them, and crushing Brett’s smaller frame into his own. He was shaking, Brett realized, with another stab of guilt, and he just knew that if he looked up into his demon’s eyes they would be flooded with tears. 

“I love you.” The words were whispered, though that changed nothing about their impact. Brett just moved to let his arms shakily move to clutch back around Eddy’s skinny torso, hugging him back like he was going to lose him again.    
  
“I know, I know,” he whispered, even as Eddy buried his head in the crook of his neck, “I love you too. I love you and I’m sorry.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Healing takes time, but they’ll get there. :) 
> 
> (I’ve been comparing this to the other Twoset fanfic I did recently and lmao they physically couldn’t be more different.)


	25. Tchaikovsky Drop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again everyone, if you guys are still clicking on this. I know it's been approximately forever, and for that I really don't have much to say. I set the arc of this story up to break their relationship down and then build it back up, but after some personal issues I just couldn't find it in myself to build it back up at all. This is actually the first genuinely inspired and happy thing that I've written in months, and the first time I actually wanted to write for personal reasons in February. I'm just so happy to be feeling better. So, I hope you enjoy. :)

“You know,” Brett mumbled after a while from his cramped position, “This still doesn’t solve the issue of who wrote the letter to you.”

“Oh, Mary wrote it,” Eddy said, pulling back and looking the blue haired witch dead in the eye. 

“What?” Brett said, involuntarily side-eyeing Mary suspiciously. 

The witch just laughed guiltily. “Fred was getting a bit busy, the little bumblebee, so I offered to respond to some of his mail. He had been complaining about you all week, Eddy.” She laughed. “He’s just so cute when he’s flustered and overworked, but it really stresses him out, so I agreed to help out a bit around the office.” 

Brett made a face like he’d tasted something sour, and Eddy giggled, wiping his eyes absentmindedly. Neither of them could imagine Fred as ‘cute’ in any capacity, but he didn’t think either of them was going to bring that up to Mary. 

“Anywho, that letter was not meant for you, sir!” Mary glared at Brett, “I just sent it so that Eddy would get his  _ head out of his ass. _ ” 

Now it was Brett’s turn to stifle a slightly nervous giggle. “Yeah, overreactions all around,” he said quietly. 

“Not really, mostly just from you,” Mary responded cheerily. 

“Yeah alright then, fair enough.” 

They went back to Brett’s house together that day, tentative and awkward. The walk back was filled with half glances and quiet conversation. Their hearts were filled with questions that their mouths refused to ask. 

Brett made pancakes for dinner, messing up the simple proportions written on the box twice before he got them correct. When he finally set the plate down on the table between them and they began to eat, Eddy commented that they were the best pancakes he had ever tasted. Brett was pretty sure they didn’t actually taste that good, but he knew that just having Eddy here with him was far better than anything else he could think of, so he accepted the compliment with grace. 

He realized about halfway through the meal that he didn’t want Eddy to leave. More than that, he didn’t want to let him out of his sight. Brett couldn’t tell if that was his love or his guilt talking, but whatever it was, it came from the heart. Eddy accepted his invitation to stay the night almost too quickly, an emotion flashing across his eyes that Brett couldn’t really put a name on. 

He had spent a long time carrying all of his heaviest blankets and fluffiest pillows to his little pull out couch before remembering that demons ran cold, but Eddy had accepted them all with a grateful smile and a whispered thanks, and so Brett nodded and went to bed, feeling like an idiot. 

He left his wings out most days now, simply because they hurt less if he let them entend. The blackened feathers spread to fill the room as he picked up his violin, mindlessly tightening his bow and tuning. His shoulder rest fell off as soon as he lowered the instrument. 

He was playing Tchaikovsky tonight. He wasn’t quite sure what had brought it on, but something about it had just felt right, and so he had started at the beginning and just gone from there. He allowed himself to drift into the music, losing his sense of time and just focusing on the way the notes resonated through the room. 

It must have been midnight before he realized he wasn’t alone in the room. 

Quiet clapping, a few moments after the end of the final movement. The ringing of the notes had just barely faded from the room. Brett turned, startled, to see Eddy sitting cross legged in the doorway. His eyes were slightly reddened, and even as Brett watched, he took the back of his hand and rubbed at one of his cheeks. 

“Sorry.” His voice was gravelly. “Couldn’t sleep. Your playing was really nice though…” Eddy made as if to move away, turning his back slightly from Brett. 

“Wait!” The word was out of Brett’s mouth before he even registered what he was saying. Eddy paused at the noise, eyes flicking up and meeting with Brett’s hesitantly. “Want to… stay?” Brett offered, wincing a little and scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. It was still slightly stiff from the playing and he really wanted to crack it but something told him it wasn’t the right time to do that. 

The corners of Eddy’s lips twitched into something approximating a smile. “I’d like that a lot,” he answered honestly. Very slowly, as though he were still afraid that Brett would tell him to go, Eddy stepped closer to the center of the room. Brett watched him move, barely breathing. Eddy looked like he was floating, almost suspended in the air.

_ For someone cast so far from heaven, he flies better than I ever could. _

That thought popped into Brett’s head as Eddy closed the last of the large gap between them, standing barely inches from his nose. Very slowly, so as not to disturb him, one of Eddy’s hands moved up very slowly and gingerly caressed one of Brett’s blackened wings. 

And Brett just felt himself  _ melt.  _ Without thinking, he threw his arms around Eddy’s neck, pulling the taller boy down to his level and burying his head in the crook of his neck, just holding him like there was no tomorrow. His heart was pounding in his ears, an endless stream of  _ I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.  _

“Hey now,” Eddy said softly, his hands coming up and making large circles on Brett’s back. 

“I missed you so,  _ so  _ much,” the shorter boy whispered, voice shaking, clutching at the back of Eddy’s shirt like he was afraid he was going to slip away from him again. 

“Shh, it’s okay, shh,” Eddy just kept rubbing the same soothing circles into Brett’s back. “I know, I know, I missed you too.” 


	26. Writer's Block Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this isn't a funny chapter but I just had to get these words out. Spot the paragraph where I gave up.

Eddy woke with the sun, eyes snapping open almost against his will. Hissing out a quiet curse, he rolled out of the bed. Then he paused. He didn’t remember going to sleep in a bed last night. In fact he distinctly remembered Brett carrying out all of those warm blankets and pillows onto his little pull out couch.

Brett…

The former angel was in the bed, limbs splayed out and only half under the covers. His t-shirt was pulled up, exposing a little bit of his stomach, and he was snoring ever so softly. Eddy smiled as last night’s events came flooding back to him. Apparently staying meant awkwardly sleeping on top of the covers of Brett’s overly ornate bed. Eddy cracked his neck absentmindedly. 

Brett sniffed a little bit in his sleep, and Eddy smiled at him before turning away. Everything that made Brett himself made Eddy’s heart flutter. As long as he kept all of their most recent squabble pushed to the back of his mind, that is. 

Eddy walked down the stairs slowly, gripping the well worn banister in a loose grip. He rolled his eyes at the wall patterning, which looked like something out of a 70’s sitcom, before continuing into Brett’s kitchen. 

Rooting around for something to eat absentmindedly, Eddy yawned and stretched, still shaking sleep out of his eyes. His limbs were heavy, and eventually that exhaustion won out over his want for cooking Brett something to wake up to. He would just wait here until he saw Brett’s smiling face. 

\-----

“Everything sucks and I’m so bored and there’s nothing to  _ do _ ,” Eddy groaned conclusively from his spot on the couch. He had waited. He had seen Brett’s smiling face. He had mooched breakfast off of Brett’s plate until his face had stopped smiling. There was nothing left to do. 

“You know your head is supposed to be above your legs when you sit on that, right?” Brett said from his chair from across the room, mirth in his eyes as he looked up from the book he was flipping through.

“I don’t care,” Eddy muttered from his awkward position, flip flopped almost completely so that his torso and head hung off the edge of the couch and rested on the floor with his legs almost straight up and resting on the “headboard” of the couch. 

“You could… read a book?” Brett offered. 

“All of your books are on lame things like cheesecake and the Spanish Influenza,” Eddy mumbled, letting his hair brush the carpet. 

Brett stifled a chuckle. “Okay. You could always practice. Those caprices aren’t going to play themselves, you know.”

“My violin is at  _ my _ house, the second mostly undefined location that no one has really heard about but everyone assumes that have,” Eddy said, wrinkling his nose.

“What?” 

“Nevermind.” 

“Alright then. You could always go out and kill some sinners or the like. You know, a little birdie told me that you might get a promotion if you just kill a little overtime,” Brett offered. 

“Okay Brett let’s be completely fair, I’ve done my job all of about once and since then I’ve either lied about not being able to do it, pawned it off on others, or just pretended that it didn’t exist,” Eddy said, smiling a little at that statement. 

“Fair enough. What about a nice book?” 

“You already recommended that!” Eddy groaned. “Fine. I’ll read about cheesecake, but I refuse to read about the Spanish Influenza. It was bad enough having to live through it the first time…” He melted off of the couch and slogged over to the bookshelf, picking up the first book he saw before returning to his previous couch spot, rightside up.

About a half hour later, Brett walked over very quietly (so as not to startle Eddy) and draped himself over the back of the couch. “Hey dude?” He asked him quietly. 

“Mmh?” Eddy asked, biting his lip and turning another page in the cheesecake book. 

“You want to make me a cheesecake?” Brett asked hopefully, holding his breath as he waited for Eddy to respond. 

“Was this your devious plan all along?” Eddy deadpanned, brow furrowing slightly at what he just read before commenting, “Wow, you think that it’s gonna be an original book on cheesecake, but after a while the jokes get old and every chapter starts to look the same…” 

“Umm yep. Sure. Definitely.” Brett nodded. “Please?” 

“I mean sure, if you really want me to,” Eddy said, turning another page, thoroughly engrossed in the book. “Just a side question: how much do you value your kitchen? Also; how good are your smoke detectors?” 

“Point taken,” Brett nodded. Then he paused. “You’ve never baked?” 

“I can make tea,” Eddy said, “and pre-packaged biscuits.” 

“I remember those,” Brett nodded. “They were a bit burnt.” 

“Thank you,” Eddy replied. “And thanks for the stellar book recommendation, Brett. It really makes time fly.” 

“I’m here to help,” Brett replied cheerfully, picking his own book back up and sitting down next to Eddy and snuggling into his side. “But right now I’m here to cuddle.”

“Sounds good to me dude,” Eddy nodded, leaning into Brett slightly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry guys


	27. Loose Threads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back, with one final chapter for all of you lovely readers. You've all been so sweet and nice and I could honestly hug you for even just clicking on this story in the first place. I wrote this chapter from my heart, and while it's a bit of a roller coaster when it comes to tone, and far from perfect, I wouldn't have it any other way.

The worst part about looking exactly the same forever, Eddy decided, was the fact that you had to look  _ exactly the same,  _ like,  _ for forever.  _ Squinting at the same face that had greeted him day after day in the mirror, he finally rolled his eyes, scrunched up his nose one last time, and left the room, flicking the lightswitch off absentmindedly as he did so. 

Walking into the living room, he came face to face with Brett, and even though he looked the same day in and day out as well, Eddy never failed to be absolutely floored by how etherial Brett looked. Even now, with his eyes weary and small bags under his eyes, a half drank black coffee gritted tightly in his claw-like hands and an oversized t-shirt and flannel pajama bottoms on, Eddy felt like he couldn’t take his eyes off of him. 

“The glasses are new,” Brett noted as he walked by, obviously not using his time to stare with unabashed fondness as Eddy was doing currently. 

“Huh?” Eddy blinked, snapping out of it a little bit. “Oh, yeah.” He refixed the wire frames almost self consciously. “I was getting a little bored with the whole…” he trailed off, gesturing slightly at himself. “...ensemble. Figured it would be good to mix things up every now and then. Do you like them?” he paused, biting his lip. 

“Naw bro, they look good,” Brett called from the kitchen, already pouring himself another cup of coffee. He popped his head back out into the living room and gave Eddy another glance. “ _ Really _ good.”

Eddy grinned softly, sliding into the kitchen in his socks and almost losing his footing on the tile floor. “Thanks. So then, what’s on the agenda today, my good sir?” 

Brett looked at him with that hopeful glimmer in his eyes, and Eddy steeled himself for a request he would most likely be unwilling to fulfill. 

“I’ve been thinking about your lack of baking ability,” Brett started, and Eddy was already shaking his head. 

“No, no, no way dude,” he groaned. “You promised to let it go.” 

“Oh please tell me when I promised that,” Brett fired back, already grinning. “I never promised that.” 

“I’m fine not knowing, we don’t actually  _ need _ to eat,” Eddy said. “It’s a habit and it’s comforting, but we don’t survive on food anymore.” 

“Sure, but food is nice,” Brett offered, shrugging. “I dunno about you, but sometimes I feel a little hungry. Plus, food is nice.” He repeated his first point. 

“Yeah but we can go around just being a little bit hungry for forever, Brett,” Eddy said. “It’s a convenience, not a necessity.”

“It’s a fun pastime.” 

“One that I’m not inclined to learn.” 

“Everyone should learn how to cook at some point, I’m sure Fred cooks for Mary!” 

“And I have you to cook for me,” Eddy pointed out. “And you’re  _ so  _ good at it too, why would I ever need to learn anything when I’m with you?” He draped himself across Brett’s shoulders, hugging him. 

Brett just gazed at him fondly, trying to settle on a compromise. “Come on, I’ll help you out. We’ll make something simple, like cookies.” 

Eddy sighed, looking into his former angel’s eyes. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?” 

“Not when I know I’m so close to victory,” Brett responded cheerfully. 

Eddy just nodded slowly. “Alright then.” 

The cookies were a complete and total disaster. Not only did Eddy have almost no idea how to operate the basic electric mixer in the kitchen, but he also doubted himself on everything. He broke about three eggs too hard before Brett took over, using a fraction of the strength that he was trying to use, and he didn’t know where to find most of the ingredients, for some reason. 

“Dude, relax,” Brett said softly to him at one point, putting one hand on Eddy’s tense shoulder. “You’re treating this like it’s life or death, we’re just making cookies. It’s supposed to be fun.” 

“Right, right, sorry,” Eddy nodded, doing his best to unlock his shoulders a little bit.

By the time they put the cookies in the oven they were both tired, more tired than they should have been from just cookies. They were also covered with an even coat of powdery white flour, giving them the appearance of ghosts. 

“I vote we just throw something on tv and wait for them to come out of the oven,” Brett volunteered. “We’ll be able to hear the beeping from the living room.” 

They ended up burning the cookies. 

“I don’t understand how this happened,” Brett said, coughing slightly at the smoke and waving it away from his face. He opened the oven. 

“Wow, we charred them,” Eddy commented offhand, staring dubiously at the blackened lumps of dough on the tray. “Oops.” 

“It doesn’t make sense.” Brett absentmindedly pulled them out of the oven, setting the tray on the stovetop gently and looking at them with disappointment. “I always put them in for twelve minutes…” Finally, he just sighed. “I’m going to go to the store, grab some more simple green or something. We need to clean the kitchen…” 

Eddy bit his lip thoughtfully. 

When Brett got home from the store, he knew something was off immediately. Not necessarily ‘wrong,’ just… off. Something in the air was different, though he couldn’t just put his finger on it. “I’m home!” he called into the open air as he hung his coat up by the door, waiting and listening. 

“Hi!” Eddy’s voice was chipper. “Come on in!” 

Cautiously, Brett walked into their kitchen, holding the plastic grocery bags aloft. “Hey, I got-” the words died on his lips as Eddy turned around, grinning. In his hands, he held a still steaming tray of cookies. 

“Oh,” Brett said softly. 

Immediately, Eddy’s grin faded. “Do you not like them?” he asked anxiously, setting them down on their island table and walking around it to face Brett. “I can do something else if you don’t like them, or, I don’t know.” He bit his lip nervously. 

Brett smiled at him, grabbing his shoulders and pulling the taller man in for a hug, squeezing him tightly. “Thank you,” he whispered. “You didn’t have to do that just for me.” 

Eddy just smiled back at him. “I would do a lot more than just bake for you,” he replied. 

“But you hate baking,” Brett said carefully. 

Eddy just shrugged, nonchalant. “Apparently I don’t hate it as much as I hate seeing you disappointed. It was nothing.” 

“I love you,” Brett said, honesty ringing in every word. He reached out for the cookies on the table, picking up the nearest one.    
  
“I love you too,” Eddy replied without missing a beat. He watched hopefully as Brett bit into the cookie. A strange look crossed his face, and he swallowed the bite. 

“Okay I love you, but these cookies are horrible dude,” Brett said with a laugh. “Wow.” 

Eddy chuckled, ducking his head. “Oops.” 

“It’s the thought that counts,” Brett said, threading their fingers together. “Besides, you have an infinity to learn.” 

“If I can spend it with you, I gladly will,” Eddy whispered back. 

Their story was far from over. There were still pages left in their book. They had loose ends, but then again, everyone does. Eddy still didn’t know what he was anymore, not since that night in heaven, and Brett knew he was dreading his first day of work, but those stories all didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that they had each other, and that they always would, for better or for worse. 

Sure, those loose ends may be concerning, and it may even hurt when the time comes to wrap a few of them up. But they’ll wrap them up together. Their stories are forever intertwined now, for better or for worse, as they had been from the very moment that Eddy had laid eyes on Brett in that darkened alley oh so long ago. 

They could speculate on the past if they felt the need to. They could wonder, wonder what would have happened if Eddy had just walked on, away from the strange man and the corpse in the alley. They could wonder what would have happened if Brett had been able to bring himself to kill the demon in front of him when he had him in his clutches, they could wonder what would have happened if either of them had decided that this life just wasn’t worth living in the first place, if they had never made up after their fight. They could wonder, but it wouldn’t do them much good. Life is full of choices, and the ones that they had made were the ones that lead them to this moment. There’s no changing that. 

Besides, it really is best to live in the present, because right now they were together, and that’s what mattered right now. 

And keeping it that way was as easy as breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd just like to say thank you all so much for reading. It means so much to me that you guys actually took the time out of your day to read something that I wrote, and even more to me that you guys kept reading it! Your comments made my day, and I was shocked that for such a tiny fandom, this work got as much love as it did. I'll admit that when I started writing this chapter, I didn't intend for it to be the last. Sure, I knew I was losing a lot of momentum, (besides, I started another work about Sanders Sides as my choice of quarantine pastime) but I wanted to make the ending something really special. This story has been just for laughs, a bunch of rambling based on another fanfic that I enjoyed. But over time, it grew to mean a lot to me. And I hope it meant just a little something to you guys as well. 
> 
> You're awesome, don't ever think any different. <3
> 
> -Ginger


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